


The Hungarian Grand Prix has seen better days.
A tight match between Shuai Zhang — world No. 45 and the second seed in the tournament — and Amarissa Kiara Toth, an unseeded Hungarian challenger, took a turn for the worse after a blatant missed call by the umpire on Tuesday.
After Zhang’s crosscourt forehand was called out with the match tied at five games in the first set despite the ball catching a clear chunk of the line, the Chinese player immediately protested.
“No way!” She called out to the umpire. “That ball is on the line.”
Zhang was booed by the crowd and ultimately dismissed, resulting in her retirement due to a panic attack — tennis journalist José Morgado tweeted that Zhang had recently admitted she was struggling with her mental health.
Meanwhile, Toth was entirely unsympathetic, erasing the mark the ball made while Zhang protested and raised her arms in victory after her teary-eyed Chinese opponent retired because of a panic attack.
Zhang appeared to point at the crowd in anger as she retired, as the Hungarian audience cheered her defeat, supporting the local favorite Toth.
“Absolutely disgusting behavior,” 2022 US Open quarterfinalist Alja Tomljanovic tweeted. “Shuai is a better person than a lot of us for shaking the ref and that girls hand. But then again it’s Shuai we are talking about, ofc she did.”
Zhang, 34, is a former Wimbledon quarterfinalist in 2019, but she hasn’t advanced beyond that stage at any major tournament.
The Chinese player has three singles titles over her career.
Toth is ranked No. 548 in the world, and she has never qualified for a Grand Slam or won a singles title on the WTA Tour.
“This is so heartbreaking, she called the physio and I think she just couldn’t handle the pressure and the feelings as she started crying so she retired from the match,” one fan wrote on Twitter about Zhang’s retirement.
“The reaction from the crowd and especially Toth, loss for words.”