MIYU KATO and Aldila Sutjiadi have been BOOTED out of the French Open after the former inadvertently reduced a ball girl to tears.
The Japanese-Indonesian team were taking on Marie Bouzkova and Sara Sorribes Tormo in a third-round clash of the women’s doubles on Court 14.
Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo edged the first set 7-6, but trailed the second 3-1 when the moment of controversy occurred. At 30-30 in what turned out to be the final game of the match, Kato passed the ball over the net as Sorribes Tormo prepared to serve.
While not hit in anger, the careless backhand inadvertently struck a ball girl, who was subsequently reduced to tears. The match umpire Alexandre Juge initially handed Kato and Sutjiadi a warning, before Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo stormed over to protest.
Following their complaints ITF supervisor Wayne McKewen and tournament referee Remy Azemar were called to court. The visibly emotional Kato went over to comfort and apologise to the ball girl, but was eventually defaulted after the umpire’s initial decision was upgraded following 15 minutes of deliberation.
After the default was confirmed, a tearful and remorseful Kato was comforted by her partner Sutjiadi. The ball girl was escorted off court following the unfortunate incident.
When the announcement was made over the tannoy that the match was over, the crowd booed the decision.
McKewen said: “The result is serious. The ball girl has been hit.
“If you hit a ball not in play and it hits someone and they are injured, then you are responsible.
“Even though you didn’t mean it, you are still responsible for that action.
“It wasn’t intentional but that doesn’t matter. If you hit the ball in-between points and it hits someone and they are injured, then you are responsible for the end of the match.
“The way you passed it, you have injured someone. You may not have meant to do it, you may have meant it just in frustration. If it is during play, it’s different.
“If it’s in-between points, and you hit a ball that hits someone and they are injured, you are then responsible for that action. During play, no.
“It’s very similar to what happened to Novak (Djokovic) in New York. He didn’t mean to do it. He hit the ball back.”
Many fans felt that Kato and Sutjiadi had been harshly defaulted.
One wrote: “It looks like the ball was just being passed down the other end.”
While a second reasoned: “What a shame. Clearly an accident, so I think the umpire should have used common sense and issued a polite warning.”
Others felt that the right decision was reached, however, with one claiming: “If you want a zero tolerance rule, that has to be a default. Sucks to be Kato but the idea that the umpire should be looking at intent is clearly silly here.”
Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo will now face American Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Australian Ellen Perez in the quarter-finals.
Source: thesun.co.uk
