US tennis player Coco Gauff was reduced to tears after a surprise defeat from Croatian contender Donna Vekić in the third round women’s singles match on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Tuesday.
The #2 ranked player was the overwhelming favorite coming into the match. But the tide quickly turned against her when Gauff lost the first set on a tiebreak. Entering the second set, she was down 2-3 when chair umpire Jaume Campistol reversed an earlier call that Vekic’s shot was out. The sudden decision broke Gauff’s concentration. She failed to return the ball and the point went to the #21 ranked Vekić.
Gauff promptly got into a heated exchange with the umpire, who stood his ground. For the next five minutes, Gauff continued to argue the decision, claiming that the call was made before she hit the ball and that it disrupted her play, which Campistol vehemently dismissed. A supervisor had to be called to court to mediate the situation as boos began echoing among the spectators. At this point, Gauff can be seen wiping away her tears.
The game continued in a tense mood. In the end, Gauff couldn’t overturn the situation and lost the match 7-6(7) 6-2.
During the post-match interview, the 20-year-old American aired her grievances.
“I always have to advocate for myself,” she said. “It happened to me in July, it happened to me here. This isn’t fair. This isn’t fair. I feel like I’m getting cheated on constantly in this game. I constantly feel like that and then I have to argue.”
She further reiterated the need for tennis matches to utilize VAR (Video Assistant Referee), much like in football.
“I feel like in tennis, we should have a VR system because these points are big deals. Usually, afterwards, they apologize, so it’s kind of frustrating when the ‘sorry’ doesn’t help you once the match is over.”
The defeat is not the end of the line for the player’s Paris Olympics journey. Gauff still has mixed doubles matches ahead of her.