It was incredible what happened on Sunday 4 June at the Roland Garros 2023, during a women’s doubles match. The pair formed by the Polish Aldila Sutjiadi and the Japanese Miyu Kato, seeded number 16 on the draw, were disqualified from the Slam tournament for an action practically identical to that of Novak Djokovic at the US Open 2020.
In fact Kato, at the end of a won game, sent a ball towards the opposite side of the court with a not particularly powerful backhand. The trajectory, very high, inadvertently hit a ball girl in the chest area.
The girl burst into tears in pain, drawing the attention of the chair umpire and the opposing duo, the Czech Marie Bouzkova and the Spanish Sara Sorribes Tormo, who then noticed the situation.
Miyu Kato violently hits a ball girl in the chest with a shot: disqualified
A little later the referee declared the match over, disqualifying the two players. The episode unleashed the web, which practically split and contested the decision. Just as in 2020 when the victim of the unpleasant event was the Serbian champion, also in this circumstance the chair umpire applied the regulation to the letter, even if Miyu Kato’s blow was involuntary, with the game practically stopped, not aimed at the ball boy and not that fast.
A bad joke for the two, who had lost the first set in the tie-break by 7 points to 1 but were ahead 3-1 in the second set. Actions of this kind continue to occur in the world of tennis.
There are players who (perhaps in a moment of anger during the match) are also lucky not to hit anyone on the court and others, unintentionally, cause damage that costs very dear (in this case the immediate disqualification).
Here is the video released by Eurosport on what happened in Paris:
Talking about Nole, the great performance and an opponent more affordable than the previous ones allows the Serb to pass the round of 16 at the Roland Garros: against the Peruvian Varillas he wins in three sets, with the result of 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.
A dominant performance, with only a few empty passes, dictated by lapses in concentration and by the wind, his enemy in this first week of the French Open. This does not stop him from a record: 17 times in the Roland Garros quarterfinals, none like him.