Coco Gauff tearfully agues with the Olympic chair umpire.
During the 20-year-olds third-round matchup against Croatia’s Donna Vevik at the Paris games, Gauff became visibly upset. The tennis star alleged that the umpire called her opponent’s ball out before she had the chance to return it. “I never argue these calls. But he called it out before I hit the ball,” she said. “It’s not even a perception; it’s the rules. I always have to advocate for myself.”
“This isn’t fair. I feel like I’m getting cheated on constantly in this game. I constantly feel like that,” she said. “And then you guys apologize afterwards, you say, ‘I’m sorry,’ and then what does that do for me in the match?”
Gauff previously spoke about how she believes tennis should use a VAR (Video Assistant Referee) system.
“I don’t think the ref disagreed. I think he just thought it didn’t like, affect my swing, which I felt like it did,” she told reporters, according to The Athletic. “There have been multiple times this year where that happened to me where I feel like I always have to be an advocate for myself on the court. I feel like in tennis, we should have a VAR system because these points are big deals. Usually, afterwards they apologize. It’s kind of frustrating when the sorry doesn’t help you once the match is over.”