Tennis player retires after opponent wipes away evidence of shocking umpire call

A tearful Zhang retired from the match after a visit from the physio, following a remarkable incident on the clay

Shuai Zhang retired from her match with Amarissa Kiara Toth on Wednesday, after her opponent wiped away a mark on the clay that suggested some shocking umpiring.

A forehand from Zhang appeared to land on the inside tramline during her Hungarian Grand Prix match with Toth, but the umpire called the shot wide. As the camera zoomed in on the mark that Zhang’s shot had left, it seemed even clearer that the shot had landed comfortably on the line.

However, the ‘out’ call stood, leading Zhang to remonstrate extensively with the umpire. Meanwhile, Hungarian Toth appeared to laugh at the episode, before walking over to the mark two points later and wiping it away with her foot – while Zhang shouted: “Wait, wait, leave the mark!”

The initial call occurred with the score at 5-5 (15-15) in the first set, and a tearful Zhang soon called the physio, before retiring from the match while down 6-5. Toth, 20, then raised her arms aloft to celebrate her victory in Budapest.

During the controversial scenes, the crowd appeared to grow restless with Zhang.

Reacting to footage of the episode (which you can watch at the top of this article), one Twitter user wrote: “The disgusting part is when Toth celebrates as Zhang retires [...] Shame on Toth.”

Meanwhile, the user who shared the footage wrote: “I really don’t have words for how bad the umpire was for this mark. @WTA it’s really time you do something and investigate these, they can’t make such big mistakes at this level. This is pure robbery.”

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