Now the UMPIRE in tennis’ ‘new low for sportsmanship’ row comes under fire as Martina Navratilova calls her ‘unfit to call matches’, as player who sparked rival’s panic attack returns to court
Now the UMPIRE in tennis’ ‘new low for sportsmanship’ row comes under fire as Martina Navratilova calls her ‘unfit to call matches’, as player who sparked rival’s panic attack returns to court
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova has slammed the umpire at the centre of the ‘new low for sportsmanship’ row, claiming she is ‘not fit to call clay court matches’.
Just days after the conclusion of Wimbledon, the world of tennis was left shocked after Hungarian player Amarissa Toth was accused of ‘disgusting’ and ‘disrespectful’ behaviour during her Budapest Open match against Zhang Shuai.
Zhang, a former world No 22, retired from the clay court match in floods of tears after the 20-year-old erased a ball mark following a disputed line call. The 34-year-old had struck a crosscourt forehand which appeared to land on the line, only for the umpire to call the shot out.
The Chinese tennis player argued with the umpire and called for the tournament supervisor for several minutes whilst being mocked and jeered by the crowd, and Toth added to the noise, laughing at Shuai as she became increasingly frustrated.
The incident drew ire from 18-time Grand Slam champion Navratilova, who launched a scathing attack of both the umpire and Toth.
The umpire involved in Amarissa Toth (not pictured) and Zhang Shuai (left) has come under fire
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova slammed the umpire, claiming she’s ‘not fit to call matches’
The 18-time Grand Slam champion also labelled Toth as a ‘bad sport’ for her actions
Navraitlova took to Twitter to voice her disapproval of the call made by the umpire, with the replays appearing to show that the ball had bounced on the line before being incorrectly called out.
She tweeted: ‘Pathetic from any angle – umpire is not fit to call clay court matches and Toth is a bad sport.’
The ball appeared to leave a visible mark on the line before it was rubbed out by Toth’s shoe
Following Zhang’s remonstrations with the umpire, the match restarted only momentarily before the dispute continued, with Toth erasing the mark made on the clay to the disapproval of Zhang.
Zhang shouted to her opponent to ‘keep the mark!’ before adding: ‘What are you doing? Why would you do that?’
Toth replied: ‘Because you’re making problems, that’s why.’
Whilst Zhang won the next game, her distress forced her to call for her physio and led to her retirement, with commentators describing how the experience had left the player ‘in floods of tears’ and possibly suffering a ‘panic attack’.
Three Australian tennis players in Ellen Perez, Ajla Tomljanovic and Daria Saville led the outrage.
Perez tweeted: ‘That’s a quick way to lose respect from your peers. 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.’
Tomljanovic added: ‘Absolutely disgusting behaviour. Shuai is a better person than a lot of us for shaking the ref and that girl’s hand.’
Saville wrote: ‘Zero respect for this Toth girl. Her reputation is ruined.’
World No 45 Zhang was left in tears and unable to continue on court after the line dispute
Toth, 20, deliberately scuffed the mark made by Zhang’s ball as she continued to talk to the umpire about overturning the call
Toth’s behaviour during the match was heavily criticised by fans and players alike online
But Toth was unapologetic about her actions when queried about the match on Radio Kossuth.
‘I don’t understand why she made such a fuss out of it, that she wanted to overrule the judge’s decision,’ the Hungarian player said. ‘I don’t understand why she didn’t accept it, but she made trouble for herself’.
The tournament’s communications manager Erik Siklos instead chose to draw attention to the crowd’s treatment of Toth, when drawn on the subject on Hungarian broadcaster MTI, noting that when the player erased the mark she was heckled by ‘several people from the Chinese team’ and called ‘disrespectful’.
Toth returns to the court on Thursday to play Ukrainian Kateryna Baindl next in the last-16 in Budapest, just 48 hours since the controversial incident with Zhang.