French Open 2023: Miyu Kato, Aldila Sutjiadi Disqualified After Former Accidentally Hits Ball Girl At Roland Garros

Paris: In an unfortunate incident, Miyu Kato and her women’s doubles partner Aldila Sutjiadi were forced to give an walkover midway into their French Open third round encounter after the former accidentally hit a ball girl in the neck with the ball after point on Sunday.

The incident happened during the second set on Court 14 at Rolland Garros when the ball accidentally hit the ball kid soon Kato took a swing with her racket. The kid wasn’t looking at the player’s direction while heading to the court.

Chair umpire Alexandre Juge, who was officiating the match, initially gave a warning to Kato. But after tournament referee Remy Azemar and Grand Slam supervisor Wayne McEwen intervened to look into what had actually happened, they ordered the players to be disqualified.

Doubles femmes victoire par forfait de Marie Bouzkova &S. Sorribes Tormo,équipe adverse disqualifiée. La japonaise Miyu Kato ayant touché une ramasseuse de balles…. pic.twitter.com/ROVnR6Xvs2

— Violeta/Nathalie (@NathalieParada2) June 4, 2023

As a result, Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic and Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain were declared the winners of the encounter. “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.”

Following the incident, the ball girl was seen crying. Kato too was left in tears after being disqualified. In the quarterfinals, Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo will face Ellen Perez of Australia and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States.