Coco Gauff Calls for Change of ‘Ridiculous’ Tennis Rules After Controversial Loss to Iga Swiatek
Coco Gauff is calling for change in the sport of tennis after a controversial umpire decision at the French Open led to her loss against Iga Świątek.
Gauff, 20, got into a heated dispute with chair umpire Aurélie Tourte when she overruled a call and benefitted Świątek, 23, during their semifinal match on Thursday, June 6. After leading 2-1 in the second set, Gauff broke down in tears when a line judge called Świątek’s serve “out” — but Tourte overruled the decision, reversing the call to “in.” Gauff was upset, claiming she didn’t return the serve because of the original “out” call.
After the disputed call, Gauff said she hopes the sport will implement a video review system.
“Tennis is the only sport where not only we don’t have the VR system, but a lot of times the decisions are made by one person. In other sports there are usually multiple refs making a decision,” Gauff said after the match, per CNN. “I know the U.S. Open brought some of it last year, I believe, I know we used it in our doubles at one point. I definitely think at this point it’s almost ridiculous we don’t have it. Not just speaking because that happened to me, but I just think every sport has it.”
Gauff added that “it sucks” to be able to watch a match back online and “see that you were completely right” about a missed call.
“What does that give you in that moment?” she continued. “In situations you can call for the supervisor, but there’s not much they can do from that standpoint. I definitely think as a sport we have to evolve, and we have the technology. They’re showing it on TV, so I don’t get why the player can’t see it.”
During the Thursday match, Gauff advocated for herself after Tourte’s call, which ultimately cost her the match.
“Are you serious? They are booing you because you are wrong,” Gauff told Tourte, referring to the crowd’s negative reaction to the call.
“I have the right to finish my swing,” Gauff continued before asking Tourte to confer with the line judge, explaining, “He called it before I hit it … It’s a Grand Slam semifinal. Know the rules of the game.”
“We cannot ask him,” Tourte responded, further upsetting Gauff. “To me, it didn’t affect the shot.”
Gauff was visibly upset and could be heard saying, “You should be ashamed,” and, “Know the rules of the game,” on videos from ESPN circulating on social media.
Defeating Gauff in a 6-2, 6-4 victory marked Świątek’s 20th match victory at the French Open. If she is able to win the grand prize, it would mark her fourth victory in five years. The Polish athlete called her match against Gauff “intense” and pointed to her overall consistency as the reason she was victorious.
“I’m happy that I just was consistent with my tactics and didn’t overthink stuff and just went for it at the end,” she told reporters, per ESPN.
As far as Gauff’s criticism that professional tennis should implement a video review system, Świątek agreed, “It would be easier to have the replay … I don’t know how it would look, like, logistically. When can you ask an umpire to (show) a video replay or (whether) it’s up to her to do that. Because I think the umpire today was pretty sure with her call.”
