U.S. Tennis Olympian Coco Gauff was in tears Monday while arguing a call with the chair umpire before her loss to Croatia’s Donna Vekić.
Gauff is now out of the hunt for a singles medal after losing in straight sets to Vekić 7-6 (7), 6-2, Fox News reported.
But two games before the end of the match, Gauff clearly felt robbed when a line judge ruled that one of Vekić’s shots was out of bounds before Gauff got a chance to return it only to find the chair umpire reversing the call to rule that Vekić’s ball was in and then awarding the point to the Croatian.
Despite the line judge’s opinion that the ball was out, chair umpire Jaume Campistol overruled the call and said it was in.
The call sent Gauff to challenge the umpire.
“I never argue these calls. But he called it out before I hit the ball,” Gauff told the umpire. “It’s not even a perception; it’s the rules. I always have to advocate for myself.”
During her complaints to the umpire, Gauff broke down in tears.
Huge argument in the Donna Vekic - Coco Gauff match. Umpire called the ball out before Gauff returned the ball and missed it in break point for Vekic. Ball was in. Coco Gauff crying and saying this always happens to me 😭 pic.twitter.com/Fv8zreC1hY
— edgeAI (@edgeaiofficial) July 30, 2024
Regardless, the video of Vekić’s ball shows that the chair umpire was correct and the ball was in.
Moment of the controversial break point at 3-2 (40-30) where Coco Gauff misses her shot against Donna Vekic. Ball was in and line judge seems to have shouted after she took the shot not before. pic.twitter.com/wwRR7N47dI
— edgeAI (@edgeaiofficial) July 30, 2024
While Gauff is out of the hunt for a medal in the singles, she still has a chance to medal in other events. She is scheduled to participate in the women’s doubles competition with partner Jessica Pegula and mixed doubles with Taylor Fritz.
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