Roland Garros: ball girl hit. Disqualified. But also right?
Japan's Miyu Kato was disqualified this Sunday at Roland Garros for hitting a ball girl in the face. Opinions differ as to whether this was right.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Jun 05, 2023, 10:16 am
Let's go back 24 hours: Mirra Andreeva leads 6: 4 in the first set against Coco Gauff in the tie-break, then misses her second set ball. And shoots a ball into the audience, a spectator is hit. Actually a very clear reason for a disqualification of the young Russian, but Andreeva gets away with a warning. Maybe because their ball hit the ground first. In any case, the 16-year-old knew that she had done something wrong. She emphasized this several times at the press conference.
This Sunday, the Japanese Miyu Kato wanted to speed up the game a little, lobbed a ball in the direction of a ball girl. The latter, however, had his hands full and could not react. And got hit in the face. The chair umpire issued a warning here as well, which wasn't enough for Sara Sorribes Tormo and Marie Bouzkova. The two called for the supervisor. And then he threw Sutjadi out of the competition together with the referee Kato and partner Aldila.
Kato like Federer once did
Now you can start an excellent discussion about Sorribes Tormo and Bouzkova and their behavior, but also ask why there seems to be a double standard. If you can remember: Last year at Wimbledon, Stefanos Tsitsipas also shot a ball into the audience in his match against Nick Kyrgios. And was only warned for it.
The action that caused Miyu Kato's undoing was seen more often with Roger Federer in the past. He always kept the ball kids on their toes. And set a completely different pace than the Japanese in his demanding allusions.