Coco Gauff Tearfully Calls Out Umpire For Unfair Treatment In Loss To Donna Vekić

Source: Europa Press Sports / Getty

USA tennis star Coco Gauff may have lost her Olympic tennis singles tournament against competitor Donna Vekić, but she left with her respect and more proof of why video replays should be allowed in matches.

It was an intense match between Gauff and Vekić . Gauff led Vekić 5-1 in the first round until Vekić came back to secure the win. The call in question occurred in the second round when Gauff returned a second serve from Vekić, which landed on the baseline. According to Yahoo , “the line judge called the ball out at first, so Gauff didn’t keep the ball in play.” Gauff then called out chair umpire Jaume Campistol, which resulted in Campistol “overruling the line judge, giving Vekić the point and a service break.”

“I felt that he called it before I hit, and I don’t think the ref disagreed,” Gauff reportedly told the media after the match. “I think he just thought it didn’t affect my swing, which I felt like it did.”

Heading into the third set, Gauff was unable to regain her composure after the five-minute argument with Campistol. While Gauff knows that she can’t blame her loss on that one point, but it was devastating to her overall game.

“I’m not going to sit here and say one point affected the result today,” Gauff said, “because I was already on the losing side of things.”

Gauff accused the umpire of unfair treatment and recalled this isn’t the first time this has happened to her. A similar situation occurred during a French Open semifinal loss to Iga Swiatek in June.

“It always happens here at the French Open to me. Every time,” Gauff said to Campistol during the argument. “This is like the fourth, fifth time it’s happened this year.”

While Gauff lost this match, she still has a chance at Olympic glory when she faces off in the mixed doubles match with Taylor Fritz.

“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,” she said .

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