WTA to investigate ‘unfortunate’ Hungarian incident – ‘We have zero tolerance for racism’
The WTA is reviewing the controversial match between Zhang Shuai and Amarissa Toth at the Hungarian Grand Prix as well as reports of racist comments from tournament organisers following the heated clash.
Zhang and wildcard Toth met in the opening round of the Hungarian WTA 250 event on Monday, but the match came to a premature end after just 11 games in the opening set as Zhang retired in tears.
The Chinese star was upset when a call from a line judge went against her and wanted the chair umpire to check the mark, but local player Toth erased the mark with her foot before anyone could have a closer look.
It resulted in a long argument and former world No 22 Zhang suffered a panic attack before opting to retire.
Several top WTA stars came out in support of the Chinese player with the 20-year-old Toth coming under fare as Australian Daria Saville wrote: “Zero respect for this Toth girl.”
Toth, who celebrated while Zhang left the court amid jeers from spectators, double-downed after the match, telling Radio Kossuth: “I didn’t understand why she made such a fuss out of it, that she wanted to overrule the judge’s decision. I don’t understand why she didn’t accept it, but she made trouble for herself.”
And it escalated on Facebook as the official Hungarian GP site claimed videos were “manipulated” as they replied to one post: “Amarissa did not decide if the ball was good or not.
“It was the decision of the linesman and then the chair umpire. The Hungarian tennis player in the first WTA main draw match of her life may not have behaved in every situation, but she did nothing that could be described as a lack of integrity. And there is no deflection, no misunderstanding. The Chinese are manipulating the world with a manipulative video.”
Comment on the Toth/Zhang from the Hungarian GP facebook account. There is no way a tournament account should ever say this. Players need to be careful of playing this tournament going forward. pic.twitter.com/jXIc0xsV6D
— Owen (@kostekcanu) July 19, 2023
The WTA has now issued a response of their own as they have vowed to address both the controversial match and the comments from the tournament organisers.
“The WTA has zero tolerance for racism in any form or context,” a statement read.
“The unfortunate incident that took place yesterday at the Hungarian Grand Prix and subsequent posts are being reviewed and will be addressed.”
