French tennis great Gilles Simon said he hopes Mari Bouzkova and Sara Sorribes Tormo struggled to sleep after an apparent act of poor sportsmanship during the ballkid drama that has rocked the French Open.
The storm continued to swirl on Monday morning when Miyu Kato posted an official apology after she and doubles partner Aldila Sutjiadi were sensationally defaulted from the tournament after the Japanese player struck a ball girl as she returned a ball over the other side of the net.
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After a ball landed at the net, Kato picked it up and lobbed it gently with a harmless one-handed backhand towards a ballgirl at the other end of the court.
But unfortunately the ball hit the ballgirl in the side of her chest and she was in clear discomfort. Kato, 28, immediately apologised to the girl who was crying and shaking.
The chair umpire gave Kato a warning but then their opponents Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo argued that Kato and Sutjiadi should be disqualified, or defaulted from the match.
“This is default”, they said.
The chair umpire replied: “She didn’t do it on purpose, she didn’t get injured.”
Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo said: “But she’s crying. She’s crying.”
A tournament supervisor came out and it was chaos for several minutes as officials tried to work out what was going on.
Bouzkova, from the Czech Republic, was heard trying to cut into the conversation between the chair umpire and supervisor and was told to butt out.
A second tournament referee then came to the court and after a long consultation, the 16th seeds were told they were being defaulted from the tournament.
There was one point in the conversations that Bouzkova admitted she hadn’t seen Kato’s backhand but said people in their players box told them “she hit it fast”.
Replays showed it didn’t look fast at all.
Towards the end of the conversations between the officials, Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo were seen smiling at the moment the officials appeared to agree that a tournament default needed to be issued.
Kato and Sutjiadi tried to protest, but the decision was already made. As they were being given the bad news, Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo were gathered at the net waiting to shake hands.
The handshakes at the end of the match were only mildly frosty, but the emotions poured out for Kato as it sunk in.
Kato was seen crying and was consoled by her teammate. She was still crying as she left the court.
The drama happened when the Japanese player and her Indonesian partner were leading 3-1 in the second set after Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo had claimed the opener 7-6.
The drama was immediately compared by tennis commentators to the time Novak Djokovic accidentally whacked a ball at a lineswoman’s throat at the 2020 US Open, resulting in him kicked out of the grand slam.
The default means Kato and Sutjiadi forfeit all their ranking points and won’t see a cent of the $70,000 in prizemoney they would have received for making the third round.
Viewers and tennis commentators had been surprised by the heavy punishment, but were even more surprised by the apparent poor sportsmanship from Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo.
Simon, a former world No. 6, was one of many criticising the actions of the unseeded pair.
He also said the decision from the supervisor was “stupid”.
He wrote on Twitter in French: “When you claim the disqualification of the opposing team when you haven’t even seen the ball hit… I hope they have trouble falling asleep tonight,” he wrote.
“As for the decision itself… refereeing at its most stupid.”
American tennis media commentator Ricky Dimon also said Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo should be kicked out of the tournament.
“How is this a default? If Sorribes Tormo and Bouzkova actually protested to get their opponents defaulted for this, they should also be banned from playing the remainder of the tournament,” he wrote on Twitter.
Canadian tennis broadcaster Ben Lewis wrote: “Honestly so embarrassed by Marie Bouzkova and Sara Sorribes Tormo, who adamantly forced a default to take a win in their doubles after this obvious accident.
“I imagine they’ll lose a LOT of respect in the locker room. Ridiculous.”
Former Indonesian professional tennis player Vito Tjahyadi wrote it was “disgusting” behaviour.
Tennis podcast host Craig Shapiro posted: “Unbelievably scummy from Sorribes Tormo and Bouzkova. I thought I’d seen it all but alas”.
Twitter fan Chris Goldsmith wrote Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo should give their prize money to the defaulted duo.
Tennis fan Gary Kelly wrote: “Some of the most shameful behaviour I’ve seen on a tennis court from Sorribes Tormo & Bouzkova.
“An accident which they claimed they saw, but didn’t. They were busy talking. And then lobbying to get their opponents disqualified, successfully. It’s supposed to be sports. Shameful.”
Bouzkova faced the press after the match and said the situation was “unfortunate”.
“I didn’t see it, our team saw it,” said Bouzkova.
“But I saw that the girl was still crying for 15 minutes afterwards.
“The warning first happened because the umpire didn’t see that she was crying and she was in that kind of pain.
“We told the supervisor that he should look more into it because we saw the girl was crying and the ball had gone directly at her. It wasn’t like the ball bounced or was a slower ball.” She added: “It was in his hands. It was unfortunate.”
On Monday morning Kato posted an apology on Twitter.
“I would like to sincerely apologise to the Ball Girl, my partner Aldila & Team, & my supporters because of today’s unfortunate mishap,” she wrote.
“It was completely unintentional. As a result, I am penalised by RG by forfeiting my prize money & points. I appreciate all your continued support.”
She did not announce if she will appeal the punishment.
