A Hungarian tennis player caused uproar when she celebrated after her opponent was forced to retire due to having a panic attack. Tour veteran Zhang Shuai was convinced one of her balls landed in after the umpire called it out at the Budapest WTA 250 event. But local wildcard Amarissa Kiara Toth rubbed the mark out despite Shuai’s pleas and the Chinese tennis star was booed while she had a panic attack and then forfeited the match.
Toth received a wildcard into the Hungarian Grand Prix as one of the home players but she caused an uproar following her opening match against Zhang. The world No 548 celebrated with her arms in the air as Zhang retired in tears and has since drawn criticism for her behaviour.
At 5-5 in the first set, the chair umpire called one of Zhang’s shots out – a call the world No 45 disputed. Although video replays and screenshots appear to show the ball firmly in and on the line, the official approached the mark and confirmed that it was out.
The 34-year-old asked for the supervisor to intervene but continued to play for one more point, after which Toth rubbed out the mark with her foot despite Zhang begging her not to. “Wait, wait, wait! Keep the mark,” the Chinese player shouted across the court as Toth approached it.
When the 20-year-old ignored her and scuffed it out, Zhang added: “What are you doing? Why would you do that?” The incident left the world No 45 clearly distressed as the physio was called to check on her during the next changeover when she suffered a panic attack while the crowd booed her.
But Zhang decided to retire, and Toth’s reaction garnered even more criticism after her decision to rub out the mark. After shaking hands with her opponent, the 20-year-old celebrated with both arms aloft while the fans continued to boo Zhang.
Videos of the incident have since gone viral with Toth coming under fire. “What a sad state of affairs, I do hope the @WTA review this match and give fines accordingly. Such poor sportsmanship,” British tennis coach and commentator Yasmin Clarke tweeted.
Another former-pro-turned-commentator, Melanie South, wrote: “Toth has really not helped herself in the tennis world if she does ever make it up the rankings!! Hope the WTA help Zhang and fine the umpire and give Toth some lessons on how to behave.”
Meanwhile, Zhang has taken to social media to address the incident since retiring from the match. On both Twitter and Instagram she said: “All efforts on practice was wrong , because when you wanted hitting closer to the line , even touched the line still OUT ….. I love you guys and all girls who supporting me and standing my side.”
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