Miyu Kato and Aldila Sutjiadi were disqualified from the French Open after one player hit a ball girl with a ball and left her in tears. The Czech Republic's Marie Bouzkova and Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo defeated the women's doubles teams from Japan and Indonesia, respectively, in the first set, and held a 3-1 lead in the second set when the match was called by the umpire.
Kato fired a cross-court shot toward the ball girl between points, striking her on the shoulder. The umpire initially warned Kato because the young girl was distressed. However, a protest by the opponents led to the match being abandoned with Kato and her Indonesian partner Aldila Sutjiadi disqualified from the tournament.
Unfortunate Incident and Exit
Both the ball girl and Kato were in tears after the incident. "You can tell it was inadvertent, she was hitting the ball back, but it's the rule. If you hit a ball person or a lines person, anyone in the stands, it's an automatic default. This was a tough scene," one announcer on the Tennis Channel said.
"These things happen. The fact is, the rule is in place so that you avoid hurting or injuring anybody," she added.
Umpire Alexandre Juge initially warned Kato when the ball girl was struck, but Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo reacted angrily and demanded that their opponents be disqualified for violating the rules.
"No, no, let me explain to you. [Kato] didn't do it on purpose. [The ball girl] didn't get injured," Juge said, according to Reuters, after the pair shouted in protest.
"She didn't do it on purpose? She's crying," Sorribes Tormo said.
"And she has blood," Bouzkova added, which caused the Juge to check in on the ball girl, who was in pain.
Kato made an effort to comfort the ball girl and apologize before the Japanese-Indonesian pair pleaded with officials that it wasn't an intentional act. Officials led the ball girl off the field.
After umpire Alexandre Juge affirmed the disqualification, Kato herself broke down in tears.
Noting Intentional
During the discussions, One official compared the occurrence to Novak Djokovic being disqualified from the 2020 US Open after hitting a line judge in the throat with the ball.
"If you hit someone and they're injured, then you're responsible for that action," the official said. "Even if you don't mean it, you're still responsible for that action."
Czech Bouzkova and Spaniard Sorribes won the first set 7-6 (7/1) but were a break down at 3-1 to Kato and Sutjiadi in the second.
The pair was applauded off the court as the 16th seeds were eliminated to jeers from the fans. All prizes won at Roland Garros including any ranking points gained by them will be forfeited.
Bouzkova said that "she was crying for like 15 minutes" despite not having seen the ball girl get struck.
"It's just a bad situation for everyone," Bouzkova said. "But it's kind of something that, I guess, is taken by the rules, as it is, even though it's very unfortunate for them. ... At the end of the day, it was the referee's decision."
Djokovic, the top-ranked man in the world, was disqualified from the 2020 US Open after furiously swiping away a ball that had struck Laura Clark, a female line judge, in the throat.
Djokovic originally pleaded that Clark wasn't gravely injured but ultimately had to default. Later, he apologized for "causing her such stress" and said that his swipe was "so unintended, so wrong."
A similar incident involving a misplaced ball resulted in Tim Henman, who would later become the British No. 1, being disqualified from the Wimbledon doubles in 1995.
Henman, who was playing alongside Jeremy Bates, struck the ball in a rage after scoring on a volley, poking a ball girl in the ear.
The umpire made the quick decision to end the match, with Henrik Holm and Jeff Tarango moving forward.
Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo will compete against Ellen Perez of Australia and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States in the fourth round.
