After winning the 2024 women’s doubles and previously making it to the finals and semi-finals of the singles at the French Open, American tennis star Coco Gauff was considered a medal favorite at the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, her singles run came to a controversial end in the third round on Tuesday.
According to ESPN, during her match against Croatia’s Donna Vekic, a disputed call led Gauff to challenge chair umpire Jaume Campistol. The incident came in the second set as Vekic had a crucial break point while leading 3-2. As Coco was returning a shot, the ball was called out in the middle of her hitting motion, disrupting her swing. The chair umpire then overruled the call and said it was in, giving Vekic the point and the game.
The world No. 2 argued that the point should’ve been replayed since her shot was interrupted. Campistol and a tournament supervisor disagreed, leading Coco to tearfully proclaim that “It always happens here at the French Open to me. Every time.” She’s referencing a similar moment during her 2024 French Open semi-final match against eventual champion Iga Swiatek.
“There’s 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 said after the match.
“I felt that he called it before I hit, and I don’t think the ref disagreed,” she continued. “I think he just thought it didn’t affect my swing, which I felt like it did.”
In watching the point, there’s no denying that the call came when the reigning US Open champion was in the middle of her shot. Usually, when a player’s swing is disrupted by outside actions and the umpire feels they could’ve reasonably played the shot, the point is replayed. However, it’s up to the umpire to decide if they had a chance to play the original point. Sometimes, they get it wrong.
While Coco was right about the point being replayed, she acknowledged that she wasn’t delivering her best tennis and this one moment wasn’t the sole reason she eventually lost 7-6, 6-2 to Vekic.
“I’m not going to sit here and say one point affected the result today, because I was already on the losing side of things,” she said.
Tennis players arguing with chair umpires isn’t an unusual occurrence. It’s part of the sport. Some stars have even made a whole career out of it. However, we’ve seen in the past with Coco, as well as Serena and Venus Williams, that when Black women challenge chair umpires, it’s treated differently. They’re called “emotional,” or the story is framed that they “lost it.” The Florida native was fighting for herself the way other players do, but the narrative is being presented as her “melting down.” It’s definitely time for this part of the story to change.
Gauff now turns her full focus to mixed doubles, where she’s partnered with the top ranked American man, Taylor Fritz, and women’s doubles, where she’s playing with her regular partner, Jessica Pegula.
“At the end of the day, if anything, doubles make you want to go out there more. You don’t want to ruin someone else’s chances based off your mentality,” Gauff said. “Taylor and I were talking about it earlier: A medal is a medal. I have two other events I can possibly do that in, so I’m just focused on that.”
Tennis at the 2024 Paris Olympics is streaming on Peacock.