China’s Zhang Shuai retired from her Hungarian Grand Prix match in tears on Tuesday after her native opponent Amarissa Toth erased a ball mark on the clay court docket following a disputed line name.
Second seed Zhang hit a crosscourt forehand that appeared to land on the road however was referred to as out by the road decide. The chair umpire then stepped down to check out the mark and confirmed the ball had landed exterior the road.
Zhang was incensed by the decision and requested to talk with the match supervisor.
The match continued for yet another level however the disagreement over the disputed name continued, earlier than Toth walked up to speed and used her sneakers to erase it.
READ | Top-ranked Daria Kasatkina struggles in opening spherical of Palermo Open
“Wait, wait, wait! Keep the mark,” Zhang yelled. “What are you doing? Why would you do that?”
Zhang appeared visibly distressed throughout the changeover and a physio was referred to as to examine on her earlier than the world quantity 28 opted to retire whereas trailing 6-5 within the opening set of their spherical of 32 match in Budapest.
The house crowd jeered Zhang’s retirement, whereas Toth shook fingers along with her earlier than placing her arms up in celebration.
Zhang later took to Instagram to complain concerning the name and thanked those that supported her.
The Hungarian’s behaviour was swiftly condemned by fellow gamers on social media.
“Absolutely disgusting behaviour,” Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic wrote on Twitter. “Shuai is a better person than a lot of us for shaking the ref and that girl’s hand.”
Australian doubles participant Ellen Perez stated Toth had misplaced the respect of her friends.
“I’m actually shook by the level of disrespect from this girl… If I see this girl tomorrow I will tell her how disgusted I am.”
Source: sportstar.thehindu.com