Coco Gauff is out of the Olympic women’s singles under controversial circumstances after a 6-7, 2-6 defeat to Croatia’s Donna Vekic on Court Philippe-Chatrier at Roland Garros.
Following the match, Gauff said, “I feel like I’m getting cheated on constantly in this game,” adding “it happens to me, it happened to Serena (Williams).”
Gauff was trailing in the second set 3-2 when she faced a break point at 30-40. As the 20-year-old stepped back to connect on a backhand shot, the linesperson ruled that the previous shot was out as she made contact with the ball.
The chair umpire Jaume Campistol awarded the point to Vekic, which Gauff found extremely displeasing. A five-minute argument ensued, with Gauff pleading her case and becoming very emotional.
“I felt that he called it before I hit, and I don’t think the ref disagreed,” Gauff said. “I think he just thought it didn’t affect my swing, which I felt like it did.”
“There have 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 added.
Coco Gauff was left in tears after getting into an argument with the chair umpire over a ruling during her loss to Donna Vekic of Croatia
“It always happens to me on this court. I have to advocate for myself every time.” pic.twitter.com/Q9bWE2F33N
— moyoafrika (@moyoafrika) July 30, 2024
Gauff is one of the biggest stars at the 2024 Paris Games, 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.
She easily won her first two singles matches, dropping a total of just five games. But her first Olympic singles tournament ended with a performance that was hardly her best on the hottest day of the Summer Games so far, with the heat rising above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius).
Gauff 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 feel like in tennis, we should have a VAR (Video Assistant Referee) 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 dispute with the umpire in the second set, Gauff later explained, didn’t alter the result of the match.
“Donna played well,” said Gauff. “She’s been playing well throughout Wimbledon ‘til now, so I knew it would be a tough match. I think I had a lot of chances in the first, and I felt like if I could clinch that set, it might have helped me with the momentum of 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.”
Gauff’s Olympic campaign will continue with Taylor Fritz, who beat Britain’s Jack Draper in the singles earlier. The duo will play in the mixed doubles later today, fourth on Simonne-Mathieu. She is also competing in women’s doubles with Jessica Pegula.
