Doubles pair disqualified from French Open for hitting ball girl
- Planet Sport writer
- 4 June 2023
After Miyu Kato hit a ball girl in the head with a tennis ball, her and partner Aldila Sutjiadi were defaulted from the French Open on Sunday.
Japanese player Miyu Kato accidentally hit a ball girl in the head with a ball, leading to her disqualification from the French Open on Sunday.
Kato and her Indonesian partner Aldila Sutjiadi, the 16th seeds, were leading Marie Bouzkova and Sara Sorribes Tormo 7-6(1) 1-3 in the third round of the women's doubles when the Japanese player hit the ball down to the other end of the court at the end of a point.
Unaware that the ball was coming, the ball girl was struck directly on the head and began crying.
Miyu Kato & Aldila Sutjiadi were disqualified from their Roland Garros doubles match
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) June 4, 2023
Kato hit a ball boy in the chest, but wasn’t hitting the ball in anger. The ball boy was crying
They were initially only given a warning, but were eventually defaultedpic.twitter.com/zymNJDKvo8
The umpire originally gave Kato a warning but, with Czech Bouzkova and Spaniard Sorribes Tormo pointing out the girl's distress, the supervisor and referee were called to Court 14.
Kato apologised to the ball girl and lengthy discussions took place before the decision was made to disqualify the pair, who appeared incredulous, amid booing from the crowd.
The incident comes a day after 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva admitted she feared she would be defaulted after she angrily swiped a ball into the crowd during her singles match with Coco Gauff.
It is three years, meanwhile, since Novak Djokovic was defaulted from the US Open after hitting a line judge in the throat with a ball swatted away in annoyance.
