The 90-degree heat wasn’t the only thing searing at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday.
Coco Gauff was in tears during her 7-6 (9-7), 6-2 loss to Donna Vekić in the third round after a fierce argument with the chair umpire.
The 20-year-old rifled a serve during the second set before Vekić returned with a shot that descended near the baseline.
Before Gauff could rally it back, a linesperson initially called it out.
However, chair umpire Jaume Campistol thought the shot landed in, and went on to award the Croatian a point – extending her lead to 4-2.
“I never argue these calls. But he called it out before I hit the ball,” Gauff said to Campistol.
“It’s not even a perception; it’s the rules.”The match was halted for several minutes due to the argument, and in that time the reigning U.S. Open singles champion broke down in tears.
It was déjà vu for Gauff, who also disputed a call during her French Open semifinals loss to Iga Swiatek last month.
“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 afterward, renewing a call for video review to be used in tennis, as it is in many other professional sports.
“I felt that he called it before I hit, and I don’t think the ref disagreed,” she said. “I think he just thought it didn’t affect my swing, which I felt like it did.”
The American entered the Paris Games as the No. 2 seed in the women’s singles.
She cruised through her first two outings, where she dropped a total of five games.
But Gauff slumped Tuesday after leading 4-1 in the opening set.
Vekić, who is coming off a semifinal run at Wimbledon, brought the set back before surging past her in the second.
Vekić had 33 winners opposed to Gauff’s nine.
“I feel like in tennis, we should have a VAR system because these points are big deals,” Gauff said. “Usually, afterwards they apologize. It’s kind of frustrating when the sorry doesn’t help you once the match is over.”
Gauff, who was the female flag bearer for the Americans, remains in the doubles draw with Jessica Pegula and was set to play a mixed doubles match with Taylor Fritz later Tuesday.
— With AP