Miyu Kato will not receive her prize money from the WTA doubles at Roland Garros after she struck a ball girl whilst returning a ball.
Kato and her doubles partner Aldila Sutjiadi were disqualified from the women's doubles competition in their third-round match against Marie Bouzkova and Sara Sorribes Tormo. Kato returned a ball over the net too hard and accidentally hit a ball girl, which led to an eventual default decision against Kato and Sutjiadi.
In a further punishment after the event, Kato will not receive her prize money for the women's doubles event and she will also forfeit all ranking points from the competition. Following the event, Kato responded to the developments by apologising to the ball girl on Twitter and confirming her punishment by Roland Garros.
"I would like to sincerely apologize to the Ball Girl, my partner Aldila & Team, & my supporters because of today's unfortunate mishap. It was completely unintentional. As a result, I am penalized by RG by forfeiting my prize money & points. I appreciate all your continued support!"
Despite the setback and penalisation of 21,500 euros ($23,000), Kato is still permitted to compete in the mixed doubles event at the 2023 Roland Garros. Her penalty and disqualification only applied to women's doubles matches and Kato outlined how she is planning to focus her attention on the mixed doubles event alongside playing partner Tim Puetz.
"I want to thank everyone for your continued support. I have received a worldwide outpouring of positive energy, and it has raised my spirits tremendously! Now I'm onto the mixed doubles semifinals, where I will use every bit of that positive energy to succeed!"
Kato and Puetz progressed past Sutjiadi and Matwe Middelkoop with a two-set victory win in the semi-finals on Wednesday, June 8 as they will play in the Roland Garros final.
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