Female sustains knee injury - Tennis player's angry explosion
Térence Atmane, a 22-year-old tennis pro, astonished everyone with his action during his first-round match against Sebastian Ofner at the French Open in Paris. He hit a ball into the stands, harming a woman slightly.
The surprising part? Atmane didn't get disqualified! Ofner complained to the umpire, and the umpire ruled in his favor, following the rules. However, the main umpire checked on the woman, who seemed to be okay and was smiling awkwardly.
He then told the chair umpire and Ofner that Atmane could carry on playing. Could it be that Atmane was French, while Ofner, an Austrian, would've been given the same treatment? Ofner said, "I'd rather not answer that." And Atmane didn't even apologize to the woman. He never went to her on the court.
The outcome of the match ended with Ofner's victory, 6:3, 6:4, 6:7 (2:7), 2:6, 5:7. Ofner couldn't comprehend the umpires' response. "In lesser tournaments like Challenger, they dish out penalties for small things. But here, at one of the world's biggest events, such behavior has no consequences. It's beyond me."
Ofner was just a few meters away from the injured woman when Atmane hit the ball, which he claimed was going at about 200 km/h. Remarkably, the woman was unscathed, just in her knee. Atmane's action had a precedent. In 2020's US Open, Novak Djokovic (37) accidentally hit a line judge with the ball, unaware of her presence.
There was also a similar incident in Paris the year prior, when Miyu Kato (29), a Japanese player, was disqualified for hitting the ball onto the other side of the court after the point had been played. The ball struck a ball girl, who was visibly shaken and in tears because of the shock, not the pain.
It's hard to fathom why Atmane was allowed to keep playing. [Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)]
Read also:
- Habeck alleges that Israel is breaching international legal norms.
- Conflict in Ukraine: a current overview
- Schalke nears massive changes
- Funkel expresses gratitude and bids farewell, though it seems insufficient.
Source: symclub.org
