A French Open star only earned a booking when he punched a fan after hitting the ball in anger. Terence Atmane was fortunate not to be disqualified, but in the end lost to Sebastian Ofner in five sets.
Frustrated at having lost a very important point, the Frenchman sent the ball into his opponent’s stands. However, he hit a woman who was sitting on Inside Court 12, which has a capacity of 492 seats.
Play was interrupted for approximately 15 minutes while the referee and coach discussed the incident with the woman. It turned out that the ball had hit her leg, but she had noticed the ball coming towards her.
Ofner had asked for the disqualification and was surprised when Atmane got only a caution for unsportsmanlike conduct and no other punishment. The 22-year-old’s opponent admitted he was dumbfounded by the resolution and realized he was arguing with a referee.
“To me, it’s kind of surprising, because if you do something like that on a small court, you have to be punished, you know?” said Ofner after rallying after two sets to seal a 3-6, 4-6 lead. Won 7-6, 6-2, 7-5.
“Because it’s not like you hit the ball normally. The ball does it with all its power. The ball is very fast. Straight into the crowd. There were other people disqualified for less. “
Footage of the incident showed the spectator in the middle of a verbal exchange with the referee and supervisor. The referee of the attack reportedly told Ofner that there was no explanation for the disqualification because the girl had admitted that she had noticed the ball approaching. his.
However, Ofner argued that if he had been a little more “unlucky,” the ball could have hit him in the face. Ofner continued: “The referee said, ‘Oh yes, I’m talking to the girl. ‘The girl said that at first it hurt, but now everything is fine and everything is fine. She saw the ball coming, so it’s not enough for disqualification. ‘
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“I think if I saw how he’s doing, maybe he’d do it differently. A little more bad luck and you’ll go straight to the other side. And then anything can happen [like] a damaged nose or whatever. “
At last year’s Open de France, Miyu Kato and her doubles pair were forced to retire when Kato hit a ball in the neck with a ball after a point on Court 14. Novak Djokovic was disqualified from the 2020 US Open for hitting the umpire with a loose ball.
However, Mirra Andreeva escaped with just one booking at last year’s French Open when she threw the ball into the crowd in her loss to Coco Gauff.
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