Getty Coco Gauff of Team USA at the Olympics
Coco Gauff’s dreams of an Olympic gold medal in singles tennis have shockingly come to an end early. Croatia’s Donna Vekić, defeated Gauff 7-6(7), 6-2 in the third round of competition in the Paris Olympics. However, the match was highlighted by a tearful argument between Gauff and the chair umpire.
“A line call on Gauff’s baseline was initially deemed out, but Campistol overruled the decision and handed Vekić a crucial break point,” wrote CNN Sports’ George Ramsey. “Play was then paused as the American vehemently argued that the point should be replayed as the call was made just before she hit the ball.”
“Gauff to the Supervisor while crying. ‘I feel like I’m getting cheated constantly in this game. This is the 3rd time this happens to me this year,'” wrote Portuguese tennis reporter José Morgado on X.
Gauff’s Match With Vekić
Gauff’s first-round victory over Australia’s Ajla Tomljanović was a historic one. It made her the youngest American woman to win in Olympic singles since Venus Williams in 2000. She beat Argentina’s Maria Lourdes Carle in the second round to set up Tuesday’s match against Vekić.
Gauff started off very strong in the third round against Vekić. She took a commanding 4-1 lead in the opening set. However, a strong comeback by Vekić forced a tiebreak where she eventually took the lead. It was the first time in the tournament that Gauff had dropped a set.
Vekić was able to carry her momentum from the first set comeback into the second set. The second set is also when the controversial call took place, and after that it did not take long for Vekić to seal the win.
“You guys are not fair to me and I hope that one day the game becomes fair, but it’s not,” Gauff said to the supervisor after an extensive argument with the chair umpire.
After the Match
“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 told reporters afterward.
Court Philippe Chatrieris the same site where the U.S. Open champion was eliminated in the French Open last month. Gauff found herself in a nearly identical dispute over a call while being defeated by eventual champion Iga Swiatek in the semifinals last month.
“I felt that he called it before I hit, and I don’t think the ref disagreed. I think he just thought it didn’t affect my swing, which I felt like it did,” Gauff said after the match.
Gauff also suggested a solution for calls like this in the future.
“And I feel like in tennis, we should have a VR system because these points are big deals,” Gauff said. “Usually, afterwards, they apologize, so it’s kind of frustrating when the sorry doesn’t help you once the match is over.”
“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 before that point happened,” she said.
Gauff’s 2024 Olympics
Gauff, along with Los Angeles Lakers LeBron James, was chosen as flag bearers during the opening ceremonies this year.
“I just want to say thank you to my fellow team usa olympians/athletes for voting and choosing me for this incredible honor to be the flag bearer for the opening ceremony . Thank you so much. I am incredibly honored,” she wrote on X.
The 20-year-old still has mixed and women’s doubles competitions to come in Paris having won her opening match in the doubles format alongside Jessica Pegula on Saturday.
Gauff will play in the first round of mixed doubles alongside Taylor Fritz later in the day on July 30. She and Fritz are the two top-ranked Americans. Gauff will have a chance to still bring home some hardware.