After a contentious ruling in her French Open semifinal loss to Iga Swiatek on Thursday night, Coco Gauff became emotional and emphasized the necessity for tennis to employ a video review (VR) system.
Gauff was called ‘out’ when she failed to return on Swiatek’s serve when leading 2-1 in the second set. However, chair umpire Aurelie Tourte overturned the call, rejecting her claim that her shot was harmed during the play.
The 20-year-old wiped his tears at the baseline and came back to break Swiatek, but she was unable to prevent the top seed from winning 6-2, 6-4.
Gauff expressed her thoughts when a reporter asked about some kind of replay appeal system: “100%. I think 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 references when making a decision. I know the US Open brought some of it last year, I believe. I know we used it in our doubles at one point. Yeah, I think at this point, it’s almost ridiculous that we don’t have it. Not also just speaking because that happened to me, but I just think every sport has it.”
She added: “Also, there are so many decisions that are made, and it sucks as a player to go back or online and see that you were completely right, and it’s, like, what does that give you in that moment? Also, in certain situations, you can call for the supervisor, but there’s not much they can do from that standpoint. I 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.”
Coco Gauff says it’s ridiculous that tennis doesn’t have video replay, it’s time for the sport to evolve
“Just following up on that, do you think that that scenario, that tennis could bring in some kind of a replay appeal system like Hawkeye where the umpire or someone could… pic.twitter.com/QuqZyqzOO3
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) June 6, 2024
Coco Gauff in 2024
LWWLWWWWWL Ranked no.3 (career-high), Gauff played her last match on the 6th of June when she lost to world no.1 Iga Swiatek 6-2 6-4 in the semifinal of the French Open (draw).
This season Coco has a composed 30-9 match record. The American has won 1 title in Auckland.
