(VIDEO) Criticism levied towards Alycia Parks after smashing ball at opponent during Korea Open doubles

Alycia Parks found herself in the midst of a controversy while playing doubles at the 2023 Korea Open alongside Sofia Kenin.

The 22-year-old American tennis player encountered another surprising incident at the WTA 250 tournament.

Parks was participating in the doubles event with Sofia Kenin and faced the Thai duo of Luksika Kumkhum and Peangtarn Plipuech in the semifinals on Friday, October 14. Kumkhum and Plipuech won the first set by a margin of 7-5, and the second set began in a similarly competitive manner.

The closely contested second set reached a 5-5 tie, and Parks had a golden opportunity but squandered it, hitting a smash directly at Plipuech, who was positioned at the net as well. The Thai player had to sit on the court for a while to absorb the pain.

The chair umpire left his seat to check on Plipuech's condition, while the players also gathered around her. Parks raised her racket in a gesture of apology. Despite taking the hit, Kumkhum and Plipuech went on to win the match 7-5, 7-6(3).

🎾nebby🎾

@1gamesetmatch

·Follow

Alycia Parks hit a smash directly into her opponent 😭😭😭

Watch on Twitter

180

Reply

Copy link

Read 5 replies

Alycia Parks and Sofia Kenin had defeated Prarthana Thombare and Zhibek Kulambayeva in the first round and the top-seeded pair of Makoto Ninomiya and Eri Hozumi in the quarterfinals. However, their journey to the final was halted in the semis.

Parks was also competing in the singles main draw but suffered a painful defeat against Polina Kudermetova. Despite winning the first set 6-3, the world No. 34 and 6th seed of the tournament could only manage to win one game in the next two sets, losing the match 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 to the Russian.

This week, Parks will be participating in the Winners Open, where she is the second seed and will face Romania's Elena-Gabriela Ruse in the first round.