The scene felt all too familiar to Coco Gauff. An officiating decision she was sure was wrong. Tears streaming down her cheeks. And a loss, this time at the Paris Olympics.
“There’s been multiple times this year where that’s happened to me — where I felt like I always have to be an advocate for myself on the court,” Gauff said afterward, renewing a call for video review to be used in tennis, as it is in many other professional sports.
“I felt that [the umpire] called it before I hit, and I don’t think the ref disagreed,” she said. “I think he just thought it didn’t affect my swing, which I felt like it did.”
Gauff is one of the biggest stars at the 2024 Paris Games, a 20-year-old from Florida who was seeded No. 2 at the Olympics in singles and was the female flag bearer for the United States during the opening ceremony on Friday.
It was Donna Vekic, though, who was receiving much of the support from the stands early in the match, with chants of “Don-na! Don-na!” ringing out.
By the time the disputed call happened two games from the end of the match, Gauff was way behind.
She hit a serve, and Vekic’s return landed near the baseline. A line judge initially called Vekic’s shot out; Gauff did not keep the ball in play. Chair umpire Jaume Campistol thought Vekic’s shot landed in and awarded her the point, giving her a service break and a 4-2 lead.
Gauff walked over to argue with the official, and play was delayed for several minutes.
Was Coco Gauff in the wrong?
“I never argue these calls. But he called it out before I hit the ball,” Gauff said to Campistol. “It’s not even a perception; it’s the rules.”
Coco Gauff arguing her case with the ref at the #Olympics #Olympic2024 #Tennis pic.twitter.com/nWJ3UFNW3k
— 🎥 🥩 (@morevidsagain) July 30, 2024
After the exchange, Gauff walked away crying.
“These points are big deals. Usually afterward, they apologize. So it’s kind of frustrating. The ‘sorry’ doesn’t help you once the match is over,” Gauff said. “I can’t say I would have won the match if I would have won that point.”
Even before the trouble over the umpiring decision, Gauff could not sustain a good start against Vekic, who was a semifinalist at Wimbledon this month.
The American led 4-1 and was a point from moving ahead 5-1 and serving for the opening set. But she didn’t close the deal, then wasted a couple of set points at 6-4 in the ensuing tiebreaker. Vekic surged to the end of that set, then maintained her level in the second.
“I’m not going to sit here and say one point affected the result today,” Gauff acknowledged, “because I was already on the losing side of things.”
“It always happens here at the French Open to me. Every time,” Gauff said while pleading her case. “This is like the fourth, fifth time it’s happened this year.”
Vekic, who advanced to the quarterfinals, did not get involved, staying at her end of the court.
“It’s a very tricky situation. I personally thought the umpire made a good decision, because the call came quite late,” Vekic said when asked afterward about what happened. “But I’ll have to rewatch it. It’s tough to know exactly in the moment.”
Unfortunately Coco Gauff was wrong and the Umpire was right.
Unlike her accusation, she was clearly not cheated, and in fact, had they replayed the point then she might have actually cheated her opponent out of an important point.
Here is 100% indisputable evidence.… https://t.co/8zpOc74rME pic.twitter.com/crrpBbWYaO
— Dustin Górski (@dustinmoris) July 30, 2024
Gauff was scheduled to head back out on court with U.S. teammate Taylor Fritz for a first-round mixed doubles match later Tuesday. She also is competing in women’s doubles with Jessica Pegula at these Olympics.
Over the weekend, Gauff spoke about aiming to leave with three medals — one from each of her events in Paris. That won’t happen now.
“I want to come home with something,” Gauff said on Tuesday.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
