French Open star makes apology to distraught ball girl for ‘unfortunate mishap’

French Open women’s tennis player Miyo Kato has apologised for an incident in which a ball girl was reduced to tears after she struck a tennis ball at her. The Japanese player was disqualified from the Grand Slam event in Paris along with her doubles partner Aldila Sutjiadi after hitting the young girl in the head with a ball, and she has now issued a public apology for the ‘unfortunate mishap’ insisting she did not intend to cause any harm.

The 16th seeds were defaulted from Roland Garros when footage showed Kato accidentally catching the ball girl during their third round match of the women’s doubles tournament with their opponents Sara Sorribes Tormo and Marie Bouzkova winning 7-6 (1), 1-3.

The Japanese star was sending a ball down the court while the ball girl wasn’t looking and got struck by it, leaving her in tears. They were originally given a warning but Sorribes Tormo and Bouzkova called for them to be disqualified, a decision agreed by the supervisor.

And Kato has now taken to social media to apologise for the unfortunate incident, having already attended to the girl’s aid after realising her error during the match.

“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,” Kato wrote on her official Twitter page.

“As a result, I am penalised by RG [Roland Garros] by forfeiting my prize money & points. I appreciate all your continued support!”

Kato is certainly not the first tennis player to be disqualified for such an offence. Novak Djokovic was infamously defaulted from the US Open in 2020 for accidentally catching a line judge in the face when striking the ball in anger without looking.

The umpire initially warned them for the innocent mistake, seemingly agreeing it was unintentional, but Sarribes Tormo and Bouzkova protested due to the girl’s emotional state and the match referee agreed with the Spanish-Czech pairing.

Kato, a three-time WTA Tour title winner and ranked 31st in the world for women’s doubles, looked distraught as she was consoled by her tennis partner Sutjiadi after learning of their disqualification.

She had never made it past the third round of a Major before and now must wait until Wimbledon to try again.