June 05, (THEWILL) – Miyu Kato has expressed her apologies after she and her partner, Aldila Sutjiadi, were disqualified from the Roland-Garros tournament following an incident involving a ball kid.
The unfortunate event took place during the women’s doubles third-round match on Sunday, where Kato accidentally struck the ball kid with a stray hit. Kato had hit a ball to the other end of the court between points while leading 3-1 at 30-30 in the second set. Although it was unintentional, the ball struck the ball kid, who was visibly upset and left in tears.
Initially, the chair umpire issued a warning to Kato, but it was Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo, who brought the emotional state of the ball kid to his attention. Consequently, the supervisor was called to assess the situation. After careful consideration, the supervisor made the decision to disqualify Kato and Sutjiadi from the match due to the incident.
Despite it being an accident, the consequences of the disqualification were severe, leading to the forfeiture of prize money and points for Kato. Taking to social media, Kato expressed her sincere apologies to the ball kid, her partner, and team, as well as her supporters.
“I would like to sincerely apologise to the ball girl, my partner Aldila & team & my supporters because of today’s unfortunate mishap. It was completely unintentional,” she posted.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
