CNN
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Oh French Open The doubles match ended in controversy on Sunday as No. 16 seeds Mayo Kato and Aldila Sotjiadi were disqualified. Tournament After a ball girl hits the ball.
Japan’s Kato and Indonesia’s Sotjiadi were leading 3-1 in the second set of their third-round match when the incident occurred, after losing the opening sets to Spain’s Sara Soribes Tormo and Czech Republic’s Marie Bozkova.
Eurosports coverage Kato appeared to innocently hit the ball to the back of the court after a point, and although it didn’t look like she intended to hit the ball girl on purpose, the ball hit her head. A tearful ball girl standing at the back of the court was visibly shaking.
Chair umpire Alexandre Juge issued the violation before Grand Slam supervisor Wayne McQueen and tournament referee Remy Eismer appeared on Court 14. After discussions between the officials and the players, it was announced that Kato and Sotjiadi had defaulted.
The Roland Garros crowd greeted the news with humor, while Sotjiadi consoled Kato.
Tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg tweeted: “Brutal call. Didn’t hit the ball in anger, just hit the ball girl to keep the match going as it was the other team’s turn to serve. The ball girl had her hands full, reacted late.
This is not the first time a player has defaulted in a Grand Slam. One of the most high-profile incidents occurred in 2020 when Novak Djokovic’s US Open ended after he defaulted for unintentionally hitting a line judge.
According to the Grand Slam Rulebook, players “shall not violently, dangerously or angrily hit, kick or throw a tennis ball within the tournament venue except in reasonable pursuit of a point during a match (including warm-up ).
The rule book states: “In all cases of default, the decision of the referee in consultation with the Grand Slam Chief of Supervisors shall be final and non-appealable.”
A player who defaults forfeits all ranking points earned in the tournament, as stated in the rulebook, and all prize money earned in the tournament.