The match between Sara Bejlek and Heather Watson, valid for access to the main draw of the US Open, sparked several controversies on social media due to some inappropriate behavior on the part of the father and the coach of the Czech player.
Bejlek, after defeating the British, reached her box to celebrate her important success. To congratulate the tennis player born in 2006, both the father and the coach groped and kissed the protagonist of the story on more than one occasion.
The gesture divided the web between those who stigmatized the incident as a warm testimony of affection and those who, considering some sad precedents, spoke clearly of harassment.
Bejlek finally expressed about the issue
Bejlek finally intervened on the issue in an interview with isport.cz.
She said: “I saw the video. It was a spontaneous reaction from the whole team. We celebrated.” The very young Czech tennis player then added: “For some, those gestures were excessive and inappropriate, but we have already discussed them among ourselves.
It won’t happen again. I’ve known my coach since I was eight and my dad is my dad and he always will be. If something similar happened in the Czech Republic, no one would talk about it. But since the incident took place in the United States, everyone is talking about it.
As I said before: we talked and it won’t happen again.” Bejlek played her first match in the US Open main draw against Liudmila Samsonova. The Russian player, who had to give up at the Wimbledon tournament, did not encounter major problems on her debut in Flushing Meadows and left only four games to her rival.
In the third round of the tournament, Samsonova challenged Aleksandra Krunic, after the victory over the finalist of the last edition of the US Open, Leylah Annie Fernandez.
What happened
After winning the match point, Sara went to celebrate with her staff, made up of her father and her coach.
Both, to congratulate the girl, groped the young tennis player. On social media, the case has gone viral: both for the attitudes in themselves inappropriate, and for the fact that the girl is only sixteen.
