"Tough to have all this kind of things people are saying" - Sara Sorribes Tormo denies wrongdoing in French Open default controversy
Caught in the middle of controversy for her involvement in Miyu Kato's disqualification from the 2023 French Open, Sara Sorribes Tormo has denied any wrongdoing.
The French Open was rocked by controversy on Sunday after Kato was defaulted from the tournament for hitting a ball girl. While it was unintentional, the tournament supervisor and chair umpire decided to disqualify the Japanese and her partner Aldila Sutjiadi from the women's doubles event.
Initially, the Japanese-Indonesian pair was handed a warning by the umpire, which was changed after protests from their third-round opponents - Marie Bouzkova and Sara Sorribes Tormo. Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo pointed out to the umpire that the ball kid was crying, which led the umpire to expel the 16th seeds.
Opening up on the incident after her fourth-round loss to Beatriz Haddad Maia in the singles competition on Monday, Sorribes Tormo admitted that it was a "very bad situation."
Having experienced massive pushback from the tennis fraternity for their actions, which was termed unsportsmanlike by many, the Spaniard said that it was "tough" to hear such things being spoken about her and her partner.
"Well, first of all, it's a very bad situation that happened yesterday. Also, for Marie and for me it's tough to have all this kind of things that people are saying.
"It's not easy because the only thing we've done yesterday was going to the referee and explain him what happened," Sara Sorribes Tormo explained.
Expanding on the incident, Sara Sorribes Tormo remarked that she and Bouzkova did nothing but make the chair umpire aware that the ball kid was crying, and only because they thought something bad had happened.
The rest of the decision was taken solely by the supervisor, clarified the 26-year-old, who went on to assert that she and Bouzkova did nothing bad.
"So, first of all, we were saying that the ball kid was crying because we were scared, because we were, oh, something happened. Then we were saying that the ball was direct because he didn't saw the ball," Sara Sorribes Tormo said.
"All the rest the decision was taken by the supervisor, and I think it's not our thing, or we haven't done anything bad. Yeah, that's the only thing I'm going to say about this, what happened yesterday," she added.
Regardless, Kato has been stripped of all ranking points and prize money she would have received from the women's doubles competition. It's not certain whether the same will be true for her partner Sutjiadi, too.
"If I'm honest, I will tell you that I really enjoyed it" - Sara Sorribes Tormo on 4R loss to Beatriz Haddad Maia
Sara Sorribes Tormo also touched on her fourth-round loss to Beatriz Haddad Maia in the French Open singles, saying that she enjoyed the match despite the result.
The Spaniard hailed her opponent for holding on to her nerves till the very end, adding that she will take away only positives from the encounter.
"If I'm honest, I will tell you that I really enjoyed it. It was difficult for sure because the match was very tough, but I really enjoy it, and that's the only thing I take. I knew it was going to be a tough match, so I was not thinking if I was going to close it or not. I was just focused on what I had to do, and I think she did it better in the end," Sara Sorribes Tormo said.