Who is Amarissa Toth? Meet the Hungarian tennis player facing the ire of the tennis world over behavior against Zhang Shuai

By Vedant Chandel

Modified Jul 20, 2023 09:15 GMT

Hungarian tennis player Amarissa Toth found herself at the receiving end of major flak after her Budapest Grand Prix encounter with Zhang Shuai ended with the latter leaving the court mid-match in a flood of tears.

Disagreement over a line call during the match spiralled into an unpleasant situation for all members involved. It was, however, Toth who was criticised on social media for her on-court behavior - including her loud celebration - after her visibly overwhelmed opponent chose to retire.

While the controversy, unfortunately, would make for the Hungarian's first impression for many, the youngster has been around the tour for quite some time.

Amarissa Toth's early career

Amarissa Toth was born on February 10, 2003. She is of Hungarian descent from her father's side, while her mother is from Thailand.

The youngster made her debut on the WTA rankings in 2021, finishing the year just outside the top-1000 at No. 1,006. That year, she made her first big impression on the big stage by reaching the girls' doubles final at the French Open along with her partner Maria Bondarenko.

While the duo lost in the summit clash to Alex Eala and Oksana Selekhmeteva in straight sets, the run to the final gave the sporting world a peak into their talent.

Toth continued to take giant strides towards improving her world ranking, reaching a first singles ITF final at a $15K tournament in Antalya. She lost to British player Sony Kartal in two tight sets but took home the doubles trophy alongside Basak Eraydin.

The Hungarian has won four other ITF $15K doubles titles that year with as many as three partners. She also made her WTA main draw debut at the Budapest Open, partnering countrywoman Natalia Szabanin.

A young player doing just what she loves

Amarissa Troth won the Drottningens Pris, a juniors event for rising European tennis stars, in 2017 while aged just 14. It was her first big win as a tennis player and she spoke about feeling extremely nervous in the summit clash.

As part of her interviews with the media, Toth also gave a few insights into her love for the US Open and the sport at large. Besides expressing disbelief about her success, the youngster thanked the organisers, ball kids, and all those involved in hosting the Drottningens Pris.

"It feels amazing," she said. "I don't know how I won this. I was very nervous, so was my opponent and we did not play our best tennis, but I was better today. I would like to thank everyone, you, for the interview, the organisers, the ball kids, the referees and my parents for letting me do what I love."

The youngster has come a long way since then. She lifted her maiden ITF singles trophy at the 2020 $15K event in Kottingbrunn, getting the better of Germany's Carolina Kuhl in the summit clash. Toh climbed around 500 spots on the WTA rankings ladder in a span of 12 months, between 2021-22.

Playing a seasoned campaigner in the form of Zhang Shuai at the Budapest Grand Prix on Tuesday, Toth showed promise until the fateful line call that threw her opponent off at 5-5 (15-15*) in the opening set. A distressed Zhang would go on to lose the service game only to retire later, handing Toth her first WTA main draw win.

Unfortunate as it was, the win meant that the young Budapest-native is guaranteed to reach a new career high ranking of at least No. 461.

Toth is set to take on Kateryna Kozlova in the second round on Thursday, and a win will put her in touching distance of the top-400. She could also break into the top-200 if she were to walk away with the trophy at her home event this week.

With a feisty personality, as evident from the little we have seen from her, Toth could well be bound for greater things in the future. And while she may not have control over the tennis world's assessment of her reactions, Toth remains firmly in the driver's seat of her tennis career for now.