What do you think about Zhang Shuai withdrawing from the game due to unfair refereeing?

Observer Network

Original

2023-7-19 19:47 · From Shanghai · Observer Network official account

Text / Observer Network Yan Shanshan’s unfair penalty, provocation by her Hungarian opponent, and boos from the Hungarian audience... This time, China Jinhua, who had endured the pressure and the malicious boos of some viewers to win the WTA Tour-level women’s singles championship, couldn’t bear it anymore.

On July 19th, Beijing time, in the first round of the WTA 250 Budapest station, Zhang Shuai decided to retire when he fell behind 5-6 in the first set. His opponent, Hungarian wild card player Amarissa Kiara Tóth, behaved Angered the entire world of tennis.

After the game, many tennis stars condemned Todt's unsportsmanlike behavior, supported Zhang Shuai, and expressed dissatisfaction with the obviously unfair penalty. Media in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia used "disgusting" in their headlines to describe Todt's actions such as erasing the mark on the controversial ball.

Zhang Shuai posted a response on the 19th: "I can only tolerate being bullied. You can't bear to say that you have no self-restraint. You can get angry and pretend to be a big name. I just want to ask the private experts for advice when I encounter this." Are you angry or not?"

This clay court Open is the 34-year-old Zhang Shuai's first match after Wimbledon. She achieved good results in the semi-finals in the recently concluded Wimbledon women's doubles. Zhang Shuai, who has experienced a trough in singles, will compete in the WTA250 Budapest station as the second seed.

In this match, Zhang Shuai, ranked 45th in the world in singles (the highest ranking in doubles is second, currently 28), plays against the 20-year-old Hungarian player Toth (ranked 548 in the world). In the first set, the two sides each broke serve twice in the first eight games and tied the game. In the 11th game, Zhang Shuai encountered a controversial penalty in the key service game.

The video showed that Zhang Shuai’s line ball was called “out of bounds” by the referee. This controversial penalty immediately caused Zhang Shuai to protest.

During Zhang Shuai's protest, a Hungarian spectator shouted "timeout" on the sidelines, and local player Toth laughed after hearing it. Although Zhang Shuai stepped forward and argued hard, the penalty was not changed.

The "New York Post" stated that the ball "clearly" touched the line, which was an "obvious penalty error" by the referee, which had an impact on Zhang Shuai's mentality.

Zhang Shuai then tried to adjust his mood and continued the game, but the audience on the sidelines booed her.

After that, an even more puzzling scene happened.

After the disputed point ended and both sides scored one more point, Todt went straight to the ball mark where the previous disputed point was scored, regardless of Zhang Shuai yelling "Wait a minute, wait a minute, keep the ball mark" from the opposite side. Reminder, smile, be provocative, and flatten the ball mark with one foot.

Zhang Shuai immediately complained to the referee, "Why did she rub the ball mark if it was really out of bounds?" Todt yelled, "Because you are causing trouble."

After arguing with the referee to no avail, the affected Zhang Shuai lost the game and fell behind 5-6 in the first set.

Due to all kinds of unfairness, Zhang Shuai was so angry that she cried on the sidelines. After some struggle, she decided to withdraw from the game. She politely shook hands with the referee and her opponent, but an even more disgusting scene came: Toth shook hands. After Zhang Shuai's hand, he immediately raised his arms and shouted to celebrate his first career WTA main draw victory as an unseeded player, and there was applause at the scene.

Zhang Shuai did not hold back and directly expressed his dissatisfaction to the audience who interfered with his game.

On the 19th, Zhang Shuai himself posted on Weibo and Instagram: "All your efforts in training may be wrong, especially when the hitting target you set is close to the line, or even If you touch the line, you will still be called OUT... After the game, many players gave me such warm messages, I love you. Those boys and girls who support me and love me! Thank you for your generous words. We are really good players. It’s hard... I have to endure being bullied. If you can’t bear to say that you have no self-restraint, you can get angry and pretend to be a big deal. I just want to ask a private expert to tell me whether to be angry or not to be angry in such a situation."

At the same time, many tennis stars expressed their support for Zhang Shuai. They were angry about the obviously unfair penalty and Todt's unsportsmanlike behavior, and expressed their recognition of Zhang Shuai's game.

"Absolutely disgusting behavior," Australian women's tennis player Ella Tomjanovich tweeted, "Zhang Shuai also shook hands with the referee and the girl, who was worse than many of us. good.

”

Australian women’s tennis star Rene Stubbs, who won multiple Grand Slam women’s doubles and mixed doubles titles before retiring, couldn’t help but say: “That referee needs to find another job as soon as possible!” She should be severely punished for this too. "

Ellen Perez, an Australian female player ranked ninth in the doubles world, pointed out that Todt has lost the respect of his peers: "I was really shocked by the disrespect of this girl's behavior... … If I saw this girl tomorrow, I would tell her how disgusting this is. "

Perez also said in an interview with Australian media that this penalty was too bad. Zhang Shuai's handling method is how every player should handle it. "The ball is obviously in bounds. At such a tense moment, You can't not argue for this, and the audience yelled at her... I can't even imagine how Zhang Shuai felt at that moment, it's hard to see directly, because Zhang Shuai is the best girl. ”

Australian player Gavrilova said that she was very angry, looked down on the girl named Tot, and felt sorry for Zhang Shuai.

The Croatian woman ranked 22nd in the doubles world Tennis player Donna Vekic also retweeted the scene of Zhang Shuai being angry and crying, expressing her shock at his experience.

Belgian female tennis player Sarin Bonaventure condemned Todt’s cheering appearance. Shameful", shouting to Zhang Shuai that he hopes she will get better soon.

American men's tennis player Noah Rubin bluntly said that this is "one of the worst things" he has ever seen in the tennis world.

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Foreign media have used "disgusting" in their titles to describe Todt's actions such as erasing the controversial ball mark.

Wwos, a sports website owned by Australia's Nine Network Channel, directly published an article "On the opponent's side." After the "disgusting" behavior, "Best Girl" Zhang Shuai retired from the match in tears, and the world of tennis exploded." Australia's Seventh News Network and the British "Daily Mail" said that Todt's performance was regarded by fans as "a new low in sportsmanship." "Point".

On the 19th, sports commentator Chen Junle issued an article pointing out: The rule of checking the ball mark is that the decision made by the referee after seeing the ball mark is the final decision, so even if the ball mark is kept, it cannot be For any retroactive effect, it was already two points after the ball was wiped, so the act itself is not illegal, but there are many things in the world that are not illegal but are disgusting. I guess Zhang Shuai wanted to wait until the side change. See for yourself, because the rules stipulate that players cannot walk to the opposite court to check the ball marks, otherwise they will be warned.

In addition to being condemned by his peers, Toth's actions were also widely criticized by fans.

“We need to introduce hawk eyes or electronic referees, and these clay court matches can no longer be faked. "

"I'm pretty sure the mark indicates the ball landed in bounds. "

"Todt should be suspended. "

"Will this player be fined for unsportsmanlike behavior? What does the WTA rulebook say? "

"Todt also raised his hands to celebrate the victory, setting a new lower limit twice in a row. This is the ball mark that Zhang Shuai icon was judged to be out of bounds by the referee today. The strange thing is that at first, the line judge's signal was inbounds, but when the referee shouted "out of bounds", it suddenly changed to outbound. Later, Zhang Shuai complained. Someone in the stands mocked Zhang Shuai. His opponent followed suit and ran to erase the ball mark. As a result, Zhang Shuai retired from the game in tears.

After the game, opponent Kiara Toth said: "I really don't understand why Zhang Shuai was so exaggerated and couldn't accept the penalty. But she got herself into trouble." Now the whole Internet is denouncing Toth for not doing so. Sportsmanship, I really don’t know who is in big trouble.

In the first round of the WTA 250 Budapest station on July 19, Beijing time, China’s Golden Flower Zhang Shuai chose to retire in tears after encountering a misjudgment by the referee and boos from the audience.

This game not only stopped her in the first round of this tournament, but also caused her to suffer a 13-game losing streak in singles on the tour for the third consecutive year. This incident has aroused widespread attention and heated discussion. Let's take an in-depth analysis of the reasons and impact of Zhang Shuai's retirement and why Chinese athletes have repeatedly encountered unfair treatment.

First of all, we need to understand the reasons behind Zhang Shuai’s retirement. In this game, when Zhang Shuai faced a key score, he lost control of his emotions because he was dissatisfied with the referee's decision, which eventually led to his retirement.

This behavior may be due to the fact that she was under tremendous pressure during the long-term competition and her mental quality was insufficient to cope with emergencies.

In addition, the boos from the audience may have increased her psychological burden, causing her to make wrong decisions at critical moments.

However, the impact of Zhang Shuai's retirement goes far beyond that. First of all, her withdrawal has had a negative impact on the Chinese tennis community, making people question the psychological quality and stress resistance of Chinese athletes. Secondly, her withdrawal also caused people to pay attention to the refereeing issue and question the fairness of the game. Finally, Zhang Shuai's withdrawal also brought huge personal losses to her, including reputation, bonuses, and opportunities for future competitions.

So, why do Chinese athletes often encounter unfair treatment? There are many reasons for this. First of all, China's sports industry still has a lot of room for development compared with the world's sports industry, so it is inevitably at a disadvantage in competition. Secondly, the performance of Chinese athletes in international competitions is often affected by cultural differences and language barriers, making them vulnerable to unfair treatment in competitions. The smearing of China by some Western countries has made Westerners who do not know the truth have great prejudice against Chinese athletes! Finally, the imperfection of China's sports management system is also an important reason, leading to the lack of adequate support and protection for athletes during competitions.

In response to these problems, we should proceed with reforms and improvements from the following aspects: First, increase investment in the sports industry and improve the overall competitiveness of the Chinese sports industry; second, strengthen foreign language training to improve athletes’ ability. Cross-cultural communication skills; third, reform the sports management system to provide athletes with a better competitive environment and protection. We must use our achievements to block the ignorance of those Westerners!

In short, Zhang Shuai’s retirement has sounded a wake-up call for us and made us realize that China’s sports industry still needs continuous efforts and development. I hope we can learn from this and create a more fair and just competition environment for Chinese athletes.