Tennis player Amarissa Toth is facing backlash following her actions in a match against Zhang Shuai at the Hungarian Grand Prix earlier this week.
In the opening set of their round-of-32 match on Tuesday, Zhang hit a crosscourt forehand that appeared to land on the line. However, a line judge and umpire called the ball out, and that’s where the incident begins. Zhang questioned the officials’ call, and as that was occurring, Toth walked up to the ball mark on the court and appeared to rub it away with her foot.
A glaring display of bad sportsmanship.
Shuai Zhang’s opponent, Kiara Toth, erased a ball mark as Zhang was pleading to speak with a supervisor about a bad call
“Wait, wait, keep the mark”
Zhang was booed & retired from the match
Awful. Just awful 💔
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) July 18, 2023
Zhang did not take kindly to Toth’s actions, as she asked, “Why did you do that?” Toth fired back, “You’re making problems.”
Toth ended up winning the game to take a 6–5 lead in the set, and a tearful Zhang subsequently retired from the match.
Afterward, Toth was criticized for poor sportsmanship for rubbing the ball mark away with her foot, which led to an apology on Thursday.
“I’m extremely sorry for what happened,” she said in a video posted Thursday. “I respect Zhang Shuai as a person and just as much as an athlete. It was never my intention to disrespect, to upset or hurt anybody, let alone Zhang Shuai. …
“I do realize I shouldn’t have celebrated the way I celebrated after the match, and I am sorry for that, but I got caught up in my emotions, by the heat of the match and I got caught up in the moment. I focus on tennis, and I didn’t want to win like that. I hope in the future I will have the opportunity to sit down and talk with Zhang Shuai and tell her how badly I feel that our match ended this way.”
Toth lost her next match to Kateryna Baindl and was eliminated from the tournament.
