PARIS (AP) — The scene felt all too acquainted to Coco Gauff. An officiating determination she was positive was fallacious. A chair umpire who wouldn’t hear. Tears streaming down her cheeks. And, most disappointing of all, a loss, this time on the Paris Olympics.
Even the positioning was the identical: Court docket Philippe Chatrier was the place the reigning U.S. Open champion was eradicated within the third spherical on the Summer time Video games by Donna Vekic of Croatia 7-6 (7), 6-2 on Tuesday. That’s additionally the primary stadium used yearly for the French Open, the place Gauff discovered herself in a virtually similar dispute over a name whereas being defeated by eventual champion Iga Swiatek within the semifinals final month.
“There’s been a number of occasions this 12 months the place that’s occurred to me — the place I felt like I all the time should be an advocate for myself on the court docket,” Gauff stated afterward, renewing a name for video evaluation for use in tennis, as it’s in lots of different skilled sports activities.
“I felt that he known as it earlier than I hit, and I don’t assume the ref disagreed,” she stated. “I believe he simply thought it didn’t have an effect on my swing, which I felt prefer it did.”
Gauff is among the largest stars on the 2024 Paris Video games, a 20-year-old from Florida who was seeded No. 2 on the Olympics in singles and was the feminine flag bearer for the USA through the opening ceremony on Friday.
Later Tuesday, Gauff returned to the court docket with U.S. teammate Taylor Fritz and received a first-round blended doubles match, 6-1, 6-7 (6), 10-5 towards Nadia Podoroska and Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina to get to the quarterfinals. Gauff is also competing in girls’s doubles on the Paris Olympics with Jessica Pegula.
“On the finish of the day, if something, doubles make you need to go on the market extra. You don’t need to smash another person’s possibilities primarily based off your mentality,” Gauff stated. “Taylor and I have been speaking about it earlier: A medal is a medal. I’ve two different occasions I can probably try this in, so I’m simply centered on that.”
In singles, it was Vekic who was receiving a lot of the assist from the stands early within the match, with chants of “Don-na! Don-na!” ringing out. When Vekic started her comeback after trailing 4-1, she responded to some applause by waving her arms overhead for extra — and the gang responded. Within the subsequent sport, Gauff delivered a backhand winner and raised a hand, wagging her fingers to ask the parents within the seats to again her — and so they responded, drawing a wry smile from Vekic.
By the point the disputed name occurred two video games from the tip of the match, Gauff was means behind.
She hit a serve and Vekic’s return landed close to the baseline. A line decide initially known as Vekic’s shot out; Gauff didn’t hold the ball in play. Chair umpire Jaume Campistol thought Vekic’s shot landed in and awarded her the purpose, giving her a service break and a 4-2 lead.
Gauff walked over to speak to the official and play was delayed for a number of minutes.
“I by no means argue these calls. However he known as it out earlier than I hit the ball,” Gauff stated to Campistol. “It’s not even a notion; it’s the foundations.”
She simply received her first two singles matches, dropping a complete of simply 5 video games. However her first Olympic singles match ended with a efficiency that was hardly her greatest on the most well liked day of the Summer time Video games to this point, with the warmth rising above 90 levels Fahrenheit (32 Celsius).
“These factors are huge offers. Normally afterward, they apologize. So it’s form of irritating. The ‘Sorry’ doesn’t enable you to as soon as the match is over,” Gauff stated. “I can’t say I might have received the match if I might have received that time.”
Even earlier than the difficulty over the umpiring determination, Gauff couldn’t maintain begin towards Vekic, who was a semifinalist at Wimbledon this month.
The American led 4-1 and was some extent from shifting forward 5-1 and serving for the opening set. However she didn’t shut the deal, then wasted a few set factors at 6-4 within the ensuing tiebreaker. Vekic surged to the tip of that set, then maintained her degree within the second.
One measure of Vekic’s superiority on this afternoon: She completed with 33 winners to simply 9 for Gauff.
“I’m not going to take a seat right here and say one level affected the consequence in the present day,” Gauff acknowledged, “as a result of I used to be already on the shedding aspect of issues.”
Nonetheless, probably the most memorable second within the match was that second-set argument. Gauff even alluded to that Swiatek loss whereas speaking to Campistol and a supervisor who joined the dialog on the court docket Tuesday.
“It all the time occurs right here on the French Open to me. Each time,” Gauff stated, holding a tennis ball in a single hand and her racket within the different whereas pleading her case. “That is just like the fourth, fifth time it’s occurred this 12 months.”
Vekic, who superior to the quarterfinals, didn’t get entangled, staying at her finish of the court docket and fiddling along with her strings.
“It’s a really tough scenario. I personally thought the umpire made determination, as a result of the decision got here fairly late,” Vekic stated when requested afterward about what occurred. “However I’ll should rewatch it. It’s powerful to know precisely within the second.”
When Gauff gave up and headed again on court docket to renew play, followers booed loudly — anger directed on the official.
The primary level of the subsequent sport went Gauff’s means, and spectators cheered wildly for her.
However about 10 minutes later, the match was over.
Over the weekend, Gauff spoke about aiming to depart with three medals — one from every of her occasions in Paris. That received’t occur now.
“I would like,” Gauff stated Tuesday, “to come back dwelling with one thing.”
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games