Marie Bouzkova and Sara Sorribes Tormo were accused of bad sportsmanship after doubles match at the 2023 Roland Garros.
The third-round WTA doubles match was a real battle for the quarterfinal spot at the 2023 Roland Garros between the 16th-seeded Miyu Kato and Aldila Sutjiadi, and Marie Bouzkova and Sara Sorribes Tormo.
The match was really dramatic even before the incident as the Czech-Spanish duo won the first set in a tie-break, and in the fourth game of the second set, the umpire made a controversial call after he overturned one of the previous calls, giving a point to Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo, despite replay clearly showing he was wrong.
Only two points later, another incident happened. This time, Miyu Kato hit a ball into one of the ball girls when she was trying to return it to the other side of the court after a rally. The umpire gave the team initially only a warning, but all soon changed.
It was Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo who pushed for a disqualification of their opponents, which effectively happened after the supervisor was called to Court 14. And it's exactly that reason why the two were accused by many fans but also journalists and experts.
Once the two noticed the ball was hit and the umpire gave a warning to Kato, Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo quickly protested, saying: "This is a default. She's crying and she has blood."
Once the umpire made a decision to investigate the situation and call the supervisor on the court, he was explaining the situation to the supervisor but Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo couldn't help but interfere and share their opinions with the supervisor, despite not being asked and not even seeing the situation as they were facing a different direction.
"She hit the ball directly at her, so how can it not be [default]? It was not passing the ball. But it went directly in the fence. But they are saying she hit it fast, we didn't see it."
Tennis journalists Simon Cambers and Sasa Ozmo both shared the same opinion as many tennis fans as they noticed that it was Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo who pushed for a disqualification.
"IMO, not a good look insisting to win a match by default after a situation like this, where it’s clear that there wasn’t any bad intention."
"The umpire originally gave just a warning - it was only when Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo pointed out that the ball girl was crying (and continued to make their case) that the umpire, after a long time and discussion with senior officials, announced the default."
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