The stands were greeted with a disgruntled whistle. Journalists also thought the punishment was too harsh.
“Brutal. They didn’t hit the ball out of rage, they just sent it toward Bolgirl, and she had her hands full and reacted late. I hope Kato and Sutjiadi can appeal and not lose all the prize money,” Ben Rothenberg wrote.
“It doesn’t seem right to insist on winning because of the disqualification of an opponent in a situation like this, when clearly the person had no ill intentions,” Sascha Ozmo noted.
“Bouskova and Sorribes-Tormo have stirred up trouble for the sake of an easy win,” Chris Goldsmith opined.
Indeed, not all tennis players in such a situation would have insisted on disqualification. The day before a similar incident happened in the match between Mirra Andreeva and Corey Gauff. The Russian player threw the ball into the stands and got a warning. The American did not see that moment, but after the match she said that in any case she would have preferred to determine the winner on the court rather than by the judge’s decision.
