"Off your high horse Maria Sakkari" "Maybe you should be banned" - Fans lambast players' alleged 'witch hunt' in Amarissa Toth-Zhang Shuai controversy

Several tennis fans have strongly criticized the apparent 'witch hunt' of Amarissa Toth by her fellow players after her and Zhang Shuai's line call controversy at the Hungary Open.

The match between Zhang and Toth was marred by a dispute in the first set, when a line call became a bone of contention. Zhang was convinced that her ball had landed on the line, but the chair umpire held a contrasting opinion.

In a bid to settle the matter, Zhang Shuai asked the Hungarian to preserve the mark so she could examine it during the changeover. However, Toth erased the mark two points later with a swipe of her foot. This act left the World No. 45 in tears, ultimately forcing her to retire from the match.

Several tennis players were displeased with the incident, and they took to social media to hurl jibes at Toth. Greece's Maria Sakkari called for Toth to be banned while Russia's Daria Kasatkina referred to the Hungarian as a "rat."

"@zhangshuai121 is the nicest player on the tour!! That Toth girl should be banned from the tour 👎🏼 👎🏼 👎🏼," Sakkari tweeted.

Several tennis fans were disheartened by this name-calling and public criticism directed towards Amarissa Toth, and took to social media themselves in protest.

One fan criticized Sakkari, urging her to abandon her "high horse". They recalled an incident that occurred earlier this year at Indian Wells where the Greek failed to admit that the ball had touched her racket during a match against Karolina Pliskova.

The fan questioned Sakkari whether she should be removed from the tour due to that incident.

"Haha get off your high horse Maria. Remember at Indian Wells this year when you didn't confess to the ball touching your racket against Pliskova? I guess you should be off the tour in that case too," a fan tweeted.

Another fan questioned Maria Sakkari regarding her call for a ban on Toth and asked whether a player should be banned simply because she doesn't like her. The fan argued that Sakkari should also face a ban if someone dislikes her.

"Banned for what? Because you don't like her? Maybe you should be banned cause someone don't like you?" the fan tweeted.

Here are a few more reactions:

"Don't understand why she made a fuss, she made trouble for herself" - Amarissa Toth on Zhang Shuai controversy

Zhang Shuai at the Rothesay International Eastbourne

The match between Zhang Shuai and Amarissa Kiara Toth at the Hungarian Open on Tuesday was overshadowed by the controversy. Toth's alleged lack of sportsmanship became the central point of the match.

After the line call incident, Toth agreed to an interview, where she openly shared her perspective. She expressed her confusion regarding Zhang Shuai's reaction, saying that she failed to comprehend why it became such a significant issue.

The Hungarian firmly believes that Zhang Shuai only brought trouble upon herself by adamantly refusing to accept the umpire's decision.

"I didn’t understand why she made such a fuss out of it, that she wanted to overrule the judge’s decision. I don’t understand why she didn’t accept it, but she made trouble for herself," Toth told Radio Kossuth.