Redemption for Miyu Kato – Roland-Garros mixed doubles champion less than a week after default

Miyu Kato leaves Paris with her maiden Grand Slam after a rollercoaster week

Miyu Kato and Tim Puetz

June 8, 2023

The arc is complete. After the tears and sadness of the weekend, when she and partner Aldila Sutjiadi were defaulted from the women’s doubles at the third-round stage, Miyu Kato is a Grand Slam champion for the very first time.

The 28-year-old won the mixed doubles with partner Tim Puetz, beating Bianca Andreescu and Michael Venus 4-6, 6-4, 10-6.

The new champions embraced after the final point; Puetz had had plenty to say on his partner’s behalf in a press conference earlier in the week. The two had made it clear that they were grateful that they were allowed to continue in the mixed doubles competition (most usually, after a default, a player would be removed from all disciplines in a tournament), and the German had explained his hopes for the rest of the week.

Kato to Puetz: “Thank you for cheering me up”

Indeed, the duo leave Paris with their trophy. Kato hugged tournament director Amelie Mauresmo ahead of the presentation and gave a small prepared statement: “My English is not so good,” she explained, reading from notes.

🏆 New Champions in Paris 🏆@miyukato1121 & Tim Puetz score their first mixed doubles Grand Slam title, defeating Andreescu & Venus 4-6, 6-4, 1-0[10-6].#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/RXXhFhQ8Uc
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 8, 2023

Turning to Puetz, she said, “I am so glad I have you as a partner. Thank you for supporting me and cheering me up,” before thanking her team and her colleagues on the tour for their backing during what she tearfully described as “a hard time” in the past few days.

She added that she hoped that she and Sutjiadi could claim the women’s doubles title together in the future – and confirmed she would be appealing the default so that ranking points and prize money could still be awarded.

“Unbelievable what has happened the last ten days…I hope this helps you. I’m very happy to win even without the drama we had…I hope this is somewhat redemption after everything that has happened,” added Puetz, pointing to the amount of noisy support they had in the stands.