Hungary’s Amarissa Toth has apologised to
Shuai Zhang after
celebrating her victory in the controversial match of the Hungary Open.
The tennis world was stunned by the events that took place
during the first-round clash in Budapest on Tuesday where Zhang retired from the
match after a line controversy with the chair umpire which left her in tears as
well.
During the same match, Toth went on to remove the ball mark
near the line which was the actual matter of controversy, something that did
not go well with Shuai who was even booed by the crowd sitting in the arena.
Following that incident, a lot of current and former players
stood with Zhang and criticised the poor reaction from Toth.
One of them was Kateryna Baindl who openly supported the Chinese
tennis star after defeating Toth in the round of 16 clash with a score of 6-3,
6-1 on Thursday.
In a video posted on social media, the 20-year-old apologised
for her celebration after the match and stated that it was not intended to hurt
anyone.
“I respect Zhang
Shuai as a person & just as much as an athlete,” she said. “It was never my
intention to disrespect, to upset, or to hurt anybody. I realize I shouldn’t
have celebrated the way I did after the match.”
It will be
interesting to see whether Toth will be able to get the fans back on her side as
history suggests that it is not easy to make amends with the fans in any
sports.