Why were the doubles team of Miyu Kato and Aldila Sutjiadi disqualified? Video of ball girl getting hit at French Open, default rules and more 

The women's doubles duo of Miyu Kato and Aldila Sutjiadi were disqualified from the French Open 2023 after Kato accidentally hit a ball girl on Sunday, June 4.

The Japanese-Indonesian pair entered the claycourt Major seeded 16th and booked their place in the third round with straight-set wins over Caroline Dolehide/Jule Niemeier and Irina Khromacheva/Linda Noskova. They were next up against the Czech-Spanish duo of Marie Bouzkova and Sara Sorribes Tormo.

Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo won the opening set 7-6(5) before Kato and Sutjiadi tried to fight back in the second. The Japanese-Indonesian duo led 3-1 before the unfortunate incident occurred.

Following the end of a point, Miyu Kato casually hit a ball over the net, which accidentally hit a ball girl in the neck. The ball girl was startled and began to cry.

Chair umpire Alexandre Juge initially gave a warning to Kato before Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo insisted on the disqualification of their opponents because the ball girl was crying.

The French Open supervisor Wayne McEwen was called upon and despite Kato apologizing to the ball girl and persistently insisting that she did not hit the ball intentionally, she and Sutjiadi were defaulted.

The 28-year-old left the court in tears, and Bouzkova and Sorribes Tormo booked their place in the quarterfinals of the women's doubles event, where they will face sixth seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez.

What are the rules for default?

A default in tennis occurs when a player is removed from a match for a number of violations. It can also happen because of a single incident on the court, which was the case for Miyu Kato and Aldila Sutjiadi.

Kato violated Article III: Player On-Site Offenses, Section N of the ITF Official Grand Slam Rule Book. According to the rule,

"Players shall not violently, dangerously or with anger hit, kick or throw a tennis ball within the precincts of the tournament site except in the reasonable pursuit of a point during a match (including warm-up). ... For the purposes of this Rule, abuse of balls is defined as intentionally hitting a ball out of the enclosure of the court, hitting a ball dangerously or recklessly within the court or hitting a ball with negligent disregard of the consequences."

This very rule was violated by Novak Djokovic at the 2020 US Open when he unintentionally hit a lineswoman with a ball during his fourth-round clash against Pablo Carreno Busta.

Miyu Kato penalized by French Open, will forfeit prize money and ranking points

Miyu Kato took to Twitter after the match to apologize to the ball girl and her partner for the incident. The Japanese reiterated that whatever happened on the court was not on purpose and that she would forfeit her prize money and ranking points earned at the French Open after being penalized by the tournament in accordance with the default rules.

"I would like to sincerely apologize to the Ball Girl, my partner Aldila&Team, & my supporters because of today's unfortunate mishap. It was completely unintentional. As a result, I am penalized by RG by forfeiting my prize money & points. I appreciate all your continued support," Kato tweeted.