Angry! Chinese tennis star Zhang Shuai suffered a misjudgment, his ball print was wiped and he burst into tears, and his withdrawal protest was not accepted
On July 19, 2023, in the first round of the tennis WTA Budapest station, China's Zhang Shuai suffered a misjudgment against local player Tóth, the ball in the bounds was not counted as a score, and he was angry to tears after the opponent wiped off the ball print, Toth led 6-5 in the first set, Zhang Shuai chose to withdraw to protest, but this approach was not accepted, and many fans expressed anger and asked the official to give everyone an explanation.
Zhang Shuai is a Chinese women's tennis star, the best result of the Grand Slam singles quarterfinals, currently ranked 45th in the world, Zhang Shuai's doubles results are more prominent, has won the Grand Slam women's doubles championship twice, are partnered with Australia's Stosur, just after Wimbledon, Zhang Shuai partnered with the American player Dole Hyde to reach the final four, the overall performance is still remarkable, by the attention of outside fans.
Budapest is a 250-level clay event, Zhang Shuai's opponent in the first round is not strong, the host player Todd qualified through a wild card, the first set of the two sides played back and forth, after winning five games each, there was a misjudgment, Zhang Shuai chose to directly theorize with the referee, but there was no effect, and later the tournament director also ignored the imprint on the scene and directly awarded the point to Tott.
Such a penalty caused dissatisfaction among Zhang Shuai's team and some spectators, because the ball print was obviously in the boundary, not an out-of-bounds ball, and after the misjudgment, Toth wiped off the ball print in front of everyone, causing Zhang Shuai to cry angrily, saying that he could not accept the result, and finally chose to protest by withdrawing from the competition, but the official did not recognize it, only mentioned that Zhang Shuai withdrew when he was 5-6 behind, suffering 13 consecutive singles losses.
Although Zhang Shuai chose to protest by withdrawing from the game, expressing strong dissatisfaction with the misjudgment, and crying angrily by the opponent's way of erasing the ball print, she still had some restraint, and shook hands with Toth and the referee after the game, and the key points were treated unfairly, which was unacceptable to anyone, and after Zhang Shuai protested, the organizers had obvious tendencies and could only choose to withdraw from the game.
Usually the host player is often easily taken care of, which is also the home advantage often mentioned, but these are not reasons for misjudgment, the opponent Thot, after knowing the referee's situation, did not take the initiative to admit his own problems, but chose to erase the ball print, this practice is contrary to the fair spirit of competitive sports, Zhang Shuai protested and ignored it, and finally decided to withdraw from the game.
For this matter, the official is currently silent, did not give any explanation, Zhang Shuai suffered an unfair penalty, Chinese fans expressed anger, but as far as the current situation is concerned, I am afraid that it will be difficult to solve it in the short term, and the image of tennis will inevitably be affected.