Zhang Shuai and Amarisha Tot argued at the tournament in Budapest

The modest Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 250 tournament in Budapest has received an unprecedented dose of worldwide attention. The reason was the incident that happened in the first round of the championship in the match between Chinese Zhang Shuai and local tennis player Amarisha Tot. A banal argument about whether the ball hit the line or went out of bounds ended with Tot simply erasing the mark on the ground with his foot. This caused the opponent to be so upset that she had a panic attack. Zhang Shuai was forced to withdraw from the tournament, and Amarisha Tot became one of the most hated people in the world of tennis for a while. Although both the judge on the tower and the spectators, who urged the Chinese woman, also showed themselves not in the best way.

The WTA-250 category tournament, held in Budapest on clay courts, has suddenly aroused increased media interest from around the world. The incident that “glorified” the modest Hungarian championship happened in the very first round of the competition. In it, the second seed Zhang Shuai (45th racket of the world) met with Amarisha Tot. The Hungarian tennis player takes only 548th place in the ranking, and she got into the main draw of the competition only thanks to a wild card.

With the score 5:5 in the first set, the linesman recorded that the ball had gone out of bounds after the Chinese hit. Zhang Shuai did not agree with this decision, she tried to challenge the decision by appealing to the judge on the tower. She went down from the tower, examined the place where the ball left a mark, and confirmed the out. At the same time, the video replay shows that the ball hit the line. For the trial, which lasted for several minutes, the tournament supervisor was even called. All this time, the audience laughed at Zhang Shuai. As a result, the line judge’s decision was not overturned. The game resumed, but not for long. He decided to cover his tracks and simply erased the mark on the ground with his foot, which, according to Zhang Shuai, proved her case (note that the trial of the controversial moment has already ended). “What are you doing? Why did you do it?!” the Chinese woman shouted. “But because you create problems, that’s why,” said Toth, whose act was met with exclamations of approval from the stands. Although from the point of view of tennis ethics, it may seem ambiguous.

Zhang Shuai tried to stay in the game, but soon felt unwell, took a medical break and eventually withdrew from the tournament. She later reported that from nervous exhaustion she had a panic attack. It should be noted that before leaving the court, Zhang Shuai, despite the fact that tears were streaming down her face, observed etiquette, shaking hands with both the referee on the tower and her opponent.

“I don’t understand why she made such a fuss,” Amarisha Toth said after the match. “There was a referee’s decision, but instead of accepting it, she made problems for herself.”

Zhang Shuai, in turn, later stated via Twitter that what happened resets all the work in training, since even hitting the line is interpreted in favor of the opponent.

The rational grain in the words of Amarisha That is. Judges’ mistakes are also part of the game, and you have to put up with them. Such an experienced tennis player as Zhang Shaui, who by the age of 34 has victories at the Australian Open-2019 and US Open-2021 (in doubles, together with Samantha Stosur, the quarter-finals of the Australian Open-2016, as well as Wimbledon-2019 in singles ), he probably knows it no worse than his 20-year-old rival.

We add that the Hawk-Eye system is not used in clay tournaments. Its use on the ground is associated with a number of technical difficulties, plus it was believed that there was no special need for it. The technical issues, however, have been resolved and from 2025 all Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tournaments will be played using lane control systems. Probably, the WTA will join them.

The tennis world unequivocally sided with Zhang Shuai.

Daria Seville, nee Gavrilova, who also performed in Budapest, said that she no longer had a drop of respect for Tot, Wimbledon finalist Uns Jabir called the incident unacceptable, Ayla Tomlyanovic considered the behavior of the Hungarian athlete disgusting.

We add that no disciplinary measures were taken against Amarisha Toth. It is possible that the WTA will intervene in the matter, but, given that formally, Tot did not violate anything, she will be reprimanded at worst.

Alexander Petrov