- Irina-Camelia Begu has apologized for accidentally hitting a child with her racket at the
French Open . - The Romanian had bounced her racket off the clay in frustration during her second round match.
Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu has apologized after bouncing her racket into the crowd, where it nearly hit a child in the face, at the French Open.
The incident happened as Begu beat Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-4 in the second round on Thursday.
Begu, 31, threw her racket into the ground after losing a point in the second set, with it then bouncing up off the clay into the crowd and frightening the child, who could be seen crying and holding his face after the near-miss.
Chair umpire Anis Ressaissi halted play to check on the child before calling for a supervisor for consultation.
Begu was then given a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct and the game continued, much to anger of Alexandrova.
At the next changeover, the Russian hit a ball over the stands and shouted at Ressaissi: "So I can do that too?" — an outburst which also earned her a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct.
—Eurosport (@eurosport) May 26, 2022
Speaking after the match, Begu described the incident as an "embarrassing moment."
"I don't want to talk too much about it. I just want to apologize," she said.
"My whole career, I didn't do something like this, and I feel really bad and sorry. So I'm just going to say again, sorry for the incident."
She added: "You hit the clay with the racket, but you never expect [it] to fly that much."
Alexandrova later hit out at the decision not to disqualify Begu from the match on Instagram.
"Seems like the rules were against me today," she said. "This shouldn't be happening. I hope after today's match rules will be improved for everyone's safety.
"We are responsible for our racquet."
Tournament referee Remy Azemar said in a statement, according to BBC Sport, that "the parents confirmed that the child was fine and not injured."