USA’s Coco Gauff, 20, was defeated by Croatia’s Donna Vekić 6-6 (7), 6-2 in the third round of the women’s singles competition at the Paris Olympics, taking place at Stade Roland Garros on Tuesday, July 30th. Vekić will now advance to the quarterfinals, for a chance to win Olympic gold.
A visibly emotional and frustrated Gauff also engaged in a nearly five minute-long argument with officials, during which she cried and stood her ground to chair umpire Jaume Campistol, insisting that her ball had been called out before she’d even hit it to Vekic two games from the end of the match. Said Gauff: “I never argue these calls. But he called it out before I hit the ball .. 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. And then you guys apologize afterwards, you say, ‘I’m sorry,’ and then what does that do for me in the match?” At one point, Gauff cried as she said, “This always happens to me.”
After the match was over, Gauff spoke to reporters to reiterate her position (per The Athletic): “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. 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.”
The Paris Games marks Gauff’s first Olympics, and she will still have the chance to medal in doubles and mixed doubles, where she is set to play with Taylor Fritz.
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