Condemned by the tennis world for treating her opponent disrespectfully, Hungarian player Amarrisa Toth has issued an apology to Chinese ace Zhang Shuai as fans were fuming at her behavior during a controversial match.
In the aftermath of her WTA Tour debut playing against Zhang at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Tuesday, Toth said in a video apology posted on Friday that she regretted that she reacted in a poor manner during the incident and it was not her intention to upset Zhang by celebrating the win in an offensive way.
"I did not think that my first WTA success would cause such a big storm, and I'm extremely sorry for what happened," she said after a straight-set loss to Kateryna Baindl in the second round of the clay-court WTA 250 tournament in Budapest.
"I respect Zhang Shuai as a person just as a much as an athlete," said Toth. "It was never my intention to disrespect, upset or hurt anyone—least of all Zhang Shuai."
As a local wild card, Toth won her WTA Tour debut against Zhang, China's world No 45, but lost the respect of the entire international tennis community due mainly to the timing and fashion she celebrated the win.
In the 11th game of the first set when Zhang served at 5-5, Toth wiped out a ball mark on the clay court left by a forehand shot by Zhang during the last point, even with the Chinese veteran shouting "wait, wait, keep the mark! What are you doing?", apparently hoping to double check the mark to see if the shot was actually out of line as the chair umpire had called.
The cross-court forehand winner, according to a later television review, appeared to hit the the corner of the service box and leave a clear mark, yet was called "out" by French chair umpire Morgane Lara, who upheld her ruling after leaving her chair to check the mark upon Zhang's request.
Toth, while Zhang was arguing with Lara about the call, appeared to laugh to the crowd, jeering at her Chinese opponent.
After losing that service game, apparently affected by the disputed call, Zhang wept tears during the changeover and eventually decided to retire from the match due to the emotional setbacks.
Even with Zhang still caught up by the upset, Toth celebrated wildly by raising her clenched fists right after a tearful Zhang shook her hands.
Toth, who is expected to rise to career-high ranking of No 462 next week for the win, has drawn a huge backlash from fans and players on the tour, with some even calling her the "most unsportsmanlike" athlete this year.
"I do realize I should not have celebrated the way I celebrated after the match, and I'm sorry for that. I got caught up in my emotions and in the heat of the match, and I got caught up by the moment. I focused on tennis, and I didn't want to win like that. I hope that, in the future, I will have the opportunity to sit down and talk with Zhang Shuai and tell her how badly I feel that our match ended this way," Toth said in the apology.
The tournament itself further inflamed the issue when it took to Facebook to comment on the incident, infuriating fans with an statement that read almost in racist tone.
"The Hungarian tennis player in the first WTA main draw match of her life may not have behaved like this in every situation, but she did nothing that could be described as a lack of integrity. And there is no deflection, no misunderstanding. The Chinese are manipulating the world with a manipulative video," read the Hungarian GP statement.
The WTA weighed in on Thursday that it will review the controversial match between Zhang and Toth as well as any misconduct by the organizers following the heated incident.
"The WTA has zero tolerance for racism in any form or context," said the statement by the governing body of the women's professional tennis."The unfortunate incident that took place yesterday at the Hungarian Grand Prix and subsequent posts are being reviewed and will be addressed."
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