"I think the locker room was pretty divided on this": Mauresmo discusses Miyu Kato default incident which stormed Roland Garros

This year's Roland Garros proved to be a controversial one in many ways but the defaulting of Miyu Kato was something the fans were particularly enraged about.

It was a WTA doubles match when a ball sent by Kato hit a ballgirl who was left crying because of it. It wasn't intentional and the ball wasn't hit hard or with any force at all but the ball girl wasn't paying attention and failed to dodge in time. The umpire initially ruled it a code violation though Sorribes Tormo and Bouzkova pushed for default calling for the supervisor. The outcome of that was the supervisor enforcing a rule defaulting Kato because of it.

There was a large outcry on social media by fans calling it 'ridiculuous'. Tournament director Amelie Mauresmo spoke about it after the event exp

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Mauresmo speaks out

Tournament director Amelie Mauresmo spoke about it after the event explaining:

"I think the locker room is pretty divided on this. I have heard, yes, a lot of people or a lot of players actually saying that it's not fair. I have heard some saying that, well, if you make a ball girl cry for about seven, eight minutes or more, then it means something. So, you know, I'm not going to comment, because when you see a video after you take a decision is always easier. The decision has been made by the tour supervisor and the referee. Without seeing the video, you come to the court. You have to make a judgment based on something that you didn't see, based on the fact that someone are reporting to you.

The former player further added:

"And when you see a ball girl cry for that long, I guess that's when you have to make some kind of decision. It's just facts. I'm not going to comment on whether it's good or bad. It is what it is. Then it goes to the Grand Slam rule book, which is pretty clear. It was also the decision of the tournament to keep her in the mixed doubles, which I think was also something positive at least for her."

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