Controversial French Open Disqualification Brings Back Old Roger Federer Clip as Eerily Similar Situation Had a Completely Different Result at Monte Carlo

If there is one word that can be used, to sum up this year’s French Open so far, it would be – controversies. Several contentious incidents have overshadowed all other discussions about the ongoing Roland Garros. One such was the highly debatable disqualification of the women’s doubles pair of Aldila Sutjiadi and Miyu Kato from their third-round encounter against the Czech-Spanish pair of Marie Bouzkova and Sara Sorribes Tormo. This received a lot of criticism from the tennis community. Now, an old Roger Federer clip has resurfaced, which shows the Swiss involved in a similar incident but with a rather different outcome.

Roger Federer clip from Monte Carlo 2014 resurfaces after French Open defaulting incident

After Miyu Kato accidentally hit one of the ball girls in the neck with the ball, the pair of Sutjiadi and Kato were forced to forfeit their match against Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo by the tournament officials. In the wake of this controversial decision, a video of 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer from the Monte Carlo Masters in 2014 has been brought back to memory.

In it, the Swiss legend was seen inadvertently hitting a ball boy on the head while trying to put the ball out of the court during his semifinal encounter against Novak Djokovic. However, Roger Federer wasn’t penalized or even given a warning for his actions. This has given more weight to the claims that the defaulting decision of Aldila Sutjiadi and Miyu Kato was unfair and uncalled for.

Kato and Sutjiadi were initially only given a warning by the chair umpire but eventually defaulted as per the decisions of the French Open officials. Marie Bouzkova and Sara Sorribes Tormo were slammed for their poor display of sportsmanship after demanding and pushing for the disqualification of their opponents.

But, did the rulebook force the officials to make this decision?

READ MORE: ‘Crying’ Ball Kid Turns Disastrous for French Open Doubles Players as Nasty Opponent Duo Pry on the Victim to Oust Them From the Tournament

What does the ITF rule actually say?

As per the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the governing body of world tennis, there are certain rules and regulations that a professional tennis player is expected to follow. The chair umpire and tournament officials have the right to default a player on grounds of violating certain regulations. Abuse of balls, which is defined as hitting a ball intentionally and recklessly outside or within the enclosure of the court, apart from the pursuit of a point during a match, is prohibited. Violation of this can result in a player being defaulted from the match as per the discretion of the officials.

Having said that, Miyu Kato hitting the ball girl was clearly accidental and her swing of the racquet wasn’t dangerous or a reckless display of anger, similar to that of Roger Federer in Monte Carlo. Perhaps this is the reason the doubles pair is getting all the support from the tennis community.

What are your thoughts on the contentious incident?

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