‘Crying for like 15 minutes’: Doubles team bounced from French Open after ball kid hit

French Open doubles player Miyu Kato and her partner have been forced to forfeit a match after the Japanese player accidentally hit a ball girl in the neck with a ball after a point.

In the second set on Court 14 at Roland Garros on Sunday, Kato took a swing with her racquet and the ball flew towards the ball kid, who was not looking in the player’s direction while heading off the court.

At first, chair umpire Alexandre Juge only issued a warning to Kato.

But after tournament referee Remy Azemar and Grand Slam supervisor, Australian Wayne McKewen, went to Court 14 to look into what happened, Kato and her partner, Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia, were disqualified.

The unfortunate episode left the ball girl crying and the disqualified Kato needing comfort from Sutjiadi because she was distressed by what she had done.

That left Marie Bouzková of the Czech Republic and Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain the winners of the match.

“It’s just a bad situation for everyone,” Bouzková said.

“But it’s kind of something that, I guess, is taken by the rules, as it is, even though it’s very unfortunate for them. At the end of the day, it was the referee’s decision.”

Bouzková said she did not see the ball hit the ball girl, but “she was crying for like 15 minutes”.

She said one of the officials said the ball “has to do some kind of harm to the person affected” and that “at first, [Juge] didn’t see that.”

Bouzková said she and Sorribes Tormo told Juge “to look into it more and ask our opponents what they think happened”.

During Coco Gauff’s 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-1 singles victory over Mirra Andreeva on Saturday, Andreev swatted a ball into the Court Suzanne Lenglen stands after dropping a point in the first set.

Andreev was given a warning by the chair umpire for unsportsmanlike conduct but no further penalty.

“I heard about that. Didn’t see it,” Bouzková said.

“I guess it just depends on the circumstances and the given situation as it happens. It is difficult, for sure.”

Djokovic breaks Nadal record at French Open

It takes a special tennis player to beat one of Rafael Nadal’s French Open landmarks — and a special player has done just that.

Novak Djokovic broke a tie with Nadal by reaching the quarterfinals at Roland Garros for the record 17th time, never truly in trouble during a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Juan Pablo Varillas on Sunday.

Now Djokovic is closing on bettering Nadal in a more prestigious category — grand slam singles championships.

Both currently sit at 22. For Djokovic, that total includes two at Roland Garros, in 2016 and 2021, and he can become the first man to own at least three trophies from each major tournament.

“Well, I’m proud of it, but my attention is already on the next match,” Djokovic said about the latest landmark.

He will play number 11 seed Karen Khachanov for a semifinal berth that could well come against world number one Carlos Alcaraz, who also made serene progress.

“I know what my goal is here. I’m trying to stay, mentally, the course and of course not look too far,” Djokovic said.

Nadal is a 14-time champion in Paris but is missing this time because of a hip injury. He had arthroscopic surgery on Friday that is expected to sideline him for the rest of the year.

“I really hope that his rehabilitation process can go well and that we can see him next season. He’s so important for our game, on and off the court, one of the greatest legends of tennis in the history of the game,” Djokovic said.

“We want to see a healthy Rafa, no question about it.”

Alcaraz extended his grand slam winning streak to 11 matches — he won the US Open in September, then missed the Australian Open in January with a leg injury — by beating Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.

But the Spaniard will face a bigger test next against fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who was a 7-5, 6-3, 6-0 winner over Austrian Sebastian Ofner.