"Heinous crime" - Tennis world reacts to French Open rejecting Miyu Kato's points and prize money appeal following controversial disqualification

The French Open has rejected Miyu Kato's appeal against the ranking points and prize money she lost after her controversial disqualification from the women's doubles event.

Kato and her partner Aldila Sutjiadi were disqualified from the women's doubles in the third round. Facing Marie Bouzkova and Sara Sorribes Tormo, the Indonesian-Japanese pair had lost the opening set before bouncing back to take a 3-1 lead in the second.

Then, Kato's attempt to pass the ball back accidentally hit a ball girl, which first saw them get a warning and then eventually a disqualification. It was later revealed that Roland Garros also took away Kato and Sutjiadi's prize money and rankings points.

Kato later stated that she had appealed for the points and prize money to be restored.

“It’s unfortunate about the disqualification. I’m looking for a positive outcome for my appeal, so I can receive my points & prize money,” she said in Paris.

This week, Kato was in action at the Libema Open in 's-Hertogenhosch, Netherlands, where she and Sutjiadi were eliminated in the opening round. After the defeat, she took to social media and revealed that the French Open rejected her appeal and also fined her.

Tennis fans were quick to react to the news. One stated that it was a 'heinous crime' and wished her luck for the rest of the season.

"They committed a heinous crime against you. So bad. Good luck for the rest of the season and hope you can put RG in the rear view mirror," a fan said.

Christian Zahalka, an ATP and WTA coach, expressed disappointment with the outcome.

"Very wrong decision extremely disappointing from the tournament referees!" read the tweet.

Former English pro Mark Petchey echoed Zahalka's sentiments.

"You don’t deserve that at all. Wrong decision," he said.

Here are a few more fan reactions:

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Miyu Kato puts controversy behind her to clinch mixed doubles title at French Open

Miyu Kato and Tim Puetz won the 2023 French Open mixed doubles.

Miyu Kato put the disappointment of getting disqualified from the women's doubles behind by emerging victorious in the French Open mixed doubles.

She and her German partner Tim Puetz clinched the title with a 4-6. 6-4, 10-6 defeat of Bianca Andreescu and Michael Venus. This sees Kato and Puetz take home €122,000 ($132,399) in prize money.

After the win, she thanked everyone for their support and stated that she had a mentally challenging time since the women's doubles controversy.

“Congratulations to Bianca & Michael. It was a great match. To my partner Tim, I’m so glad I have you. Thank you for always supporting me & cheering me up. To my coach, thank you for always being with me. It has been really challenging mentally after disqualification,” she said.