“It was never my intention to disrespect, upset, or hurt anyone – least of all Zhang Shuai” – Toth apologizes, feels bad about the way their match ended

The Hungarian player lost in the second round in Budapest to Kateryna Baindl and later issued an apology for the way things went down during her win over Shuai Zhang

Amarissa Toth at the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix Image Credit: Zuma / Panoramic

Haresh Ramchandani

July 21, 2023

Amarissa Toth, the player at the centre of the storm in the tennis world over the past few days following her match against China’s Shuai Zhang at the Hungarian Grand Prix which ended with the much-liked Zhang retiring in tears, has issued an apology to Zhang.

Toth, who went down to Ukraine’s Kateryna Baindl in straight sets on Thursday, said she got caught up in the emotions and heat of the moment and admitted she should have not celebrated the way she did. The 20-year-old also said she had no intention to disrespect or hurt her opponent and hopes to one day sit down and tell her how bad she felt about the way their match ended.

“I did not think that my first WTA success would cause such a big storm, and I’m extremely sorry for what happened,” Toth said in a video posted on the tournament’s official Instagram account. “I respect Zhang Shuai as a person just as a much as an athlete. It was never my intention to disrespect, upset, or hurt anyone—least of all Zhang Shuai.”

“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 how badly I feel that our match ended this way.”

“I hope that Shuai Zhang feels better and that we will soon see her back because she’s an unbelievable player, very respectful and a great person. There is a lot to learn from her, and we should all stay respectful to each other no matter what.”

Amarissa Toth has shared a video in which she apologizes for what happened with Shuai Zhang a couple of days ago, saying that she shouldn't have behaved in that way, and that she respects Shuai as a person and athlete.pic.twitter.com/TktSTPEko2
— Relevant Tennis (@RelevantTennis) July 20, 2023

Zhang continued to receive an outpouring of support from the locker room with Baindl herself talking about her during the post match interview on court after beating Toth 6-3, 6-1 to advance to the quarter-finals.

“Today they were fair. I hope that they can stay fair, and Zhang Shuai feels better,” Baindl said on court after her win. “Hopefully she is getting better and soon, we’ll see her back. She’s an unbelievable player, very respectful and a great person. There’s a lot to learn from her. We should stay all respectful to each other.”

Ukrainian Kateryna Kozlova Baindl, who beat Amarissa Toth today in Budapest, had a message to Shuai Zhang. During the on court interview, no less: pic.twitter.com/exZ9yVXh2Y
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) July 20, 2023