Watch: A Djokovic repeat as doubles pair will get defaulted after unintentionally hitting ballgirl throughout French Open match

The incident occurred after the tip of the fourth sport of the second set the place the sixteenth seeded pair have been main 3-1 after happening within the first-set tie-breaker. Kato struck the ball casually in direction of the other finish of the opposite courtroom which unintentionally hit the ballgirl straight.

Whereas the chair umpire initially left the pair with a mere warning, the lady was left to tears. Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo then highlighted it and spoke to the umpire concerning it and the supervisor was instantly known as. There was a bit of dialogue on the courtroom earlier than the announcement was made to default Sutjiadi and Kato, who was then seen crying in disappointment earlier than being consoled by her accomplice.

Kato’s act fell underneath the Grand Slam rule e-book’s definitions of “ball abuse”. In keeping with the rule: Gamers shall not violently, dangerously or with anger hit, kick or throw a tennis ball inside the precincts of the event web site besides within the cheap pursuit of some extent throughout a match (together with warm-up). Violation of this Part shall topic a participant to fantastic as much as $20,000 for every violation. As well as, if such violation happens throughout a match (together with the warmup) the participant shall be penalised in accordance with the Level Penalty Schedule hereinafter set forth. For the needs of this Rule, abuse of balls is outlined as deliberately hitting a ball out of the enclosure of the courtroom, hitting a ball dangerously or recklessly inside the courtroom or hitting a ball with negligent disregard of the implications.”

The incident was much like what Novak Djokovic had confronted on the 2020 US Open when he hit the road choose within the neck after hitting the ball in direction of the again of the courtroom in frustration.