Coco Gauff outraged after Olympic exit: 'It always happens to me on this court!'

Coco Gauff’s run in the singles tournament at the 2024 Paris Olympics has come to a bitter end. Gauff fell to Donna Vekic 7-6, 6-2, but was adamant that her fortunes were significantly ruined by the chair umpire.

“It always happens to me on this court!” Gauff said as tears started to run down her face as she walked away from chair umpire Jaume Campistol. The much-discussed sequence happened during the second set.

She argued that a linesperson initially called a return from Vekic out, which affected how she struck the incoming shot near the baseline, according to the New York Post. “He called it out before I hit it,” Gauff said with her palms raised to Campistol.

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The audio from the interaction also seems to support the notion that Campistol accepts the notion that he might have made the incorrect final decision. Gauff took him to task on this point, telling him that he had to be 100% sure of his conviction.

Gauff has had a checkered history with umpires at Roland Garros this summer. Her exasperated comment about her routinely getting shorted at the complex was in reference to a call that went against her in the French Open in June against Iga Swiatek. According to AP News, Gauff said, “This is like the fourth, fifth time it’s happened this year.”

Continuing her rant, Gauff lamented the fact that there was no way technology could help correct the injustice she felt she suffered. She called for a VAR system to be implemented in the sport due to the importance of these high-profile matches.

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Gauff expressed that she can’t tolerate these types of errors from the officials. She told AP News, “These points are big deals. Usually afterward, they apologize. So it’s kind of frustrating. The apology doesn’t help you once the match is over.”

Gauff had to move on from the disappointing turn of events quickly, as she was scheduled to play in a mixed doubles match with Taylor Fritz. Gauff was able to put her singles loss behind her well enough, as her and Fritz defeated the Argentinian pair of Maximo Gonzalez and Nadia Podoroska.

According to Yahoo, Coco Gauff had yet to drop a set during the Olympics, until she fell to Vekic in the third round. It was a crushing and stunning result considering how dominant Gauff had been previously.

After the match, Vekic told AP News, “It’s a very tricky situation. I personally thought the umpire made a good decision, because the call came quite late. But I’ll have to rewatch it. It’s tough to know exactly in the moment.”

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