Tennis Player Kiara Toth Became The Most Hated Player On The WTA Yesterday After Celebrating Her Opponent Retiring From The Match Due To A Panic Attack

hubbs7/19/2023 8:40 PM

I watch and follow so much tennis that sometimes I lose perception of what people will actually care about, but this controversy at the Hungarian Open has blown up so let's dive in,

Yesterday in the Hungarian Open Shuai Zhang faced off against local Amarissa Toth. This is a clay court tournament so they do not use the automated line-calling technology that you see in most places. They still should because the idea that an umpire has to hop out of their chair to check a ball mark that could be confused with the wrong mark is insane. 2023 and that's how we're reviewing calls. I digress...

Shuai thought she hit a winner, and while it was initially called in, the lines person changed their mind quickly and ruled it out. The chair umpire then came down from her perch to review the spot. She then decided the spot, which was clearly on the line, was not in and gave the point to Toth.

Shuai Zhang continued to argue the call in disbelief as her opponent laughed and the crowd booed. The match eventually continued, but a point later, before getting ready to receive a serve on the original side of the controversy Toth wiped the mark away despite Zhang's plea to stop.

Now I'll say this, people are making too much about the wiping of the mark. It's customary in clay court tennis to do that so that future close marks don't get confused with old ones. If she did this right after the point was over, before the umpire got out of her chair that'd be another story. Now did Toth know at this point she got a massive break on the call? 1000% just look at her body language, but still I don't see that as being the end of the world. At that point it was over and they were continuing the match so I'm not sure what leaving the mark would have even done unless I'm missing something entirely.

Shuai Zhang unfortunately went onto have a bit of a panic attack and called for the trainer. I guess the pressure of the fans and getting all too upset in the moment overwhelmed her. She retired from the match before going onto shake the umpire and her opponent's hands. From everything I understand she's regarded as one of the nicest players on the tour so this was really sad to see.

Now in all my time watching tennis if anyone retires from a match because of injury or anything like that you see the opponent just accept the stroke of luck on the easy W and solemnly leave the court. Toth actually celebrated as her opponent was in tears. Hands thrown up in the air in full jubilation. Honestly I laughed out loud when I first saw this with how outrageous a visual that is. Not even a set into the match and she's reacting like they just grinded through this whole match for the W. I'm not usually one to critique sportsmanship, but that's bizarre behavior. While this was Kiara Toth's first main draw win of her career, does it really feel like something worth celebrating?

Think it's also safe to say Shuai is probably not in the best mental space right now. Bad calls happen, even if this one was egregious, but clearly she's not doing well. She gave this quote not too long ago and it kinda shows she probably needs to take a step back from playing.

Toth spoke afterwards about the moment and didn't exactly win anybody over.

Since this all went viral there have been a handful of players coming out ripping into Toth for how she handled all this while also supporting Shuai.