2024 Olympics: Coco Gauff Tears Up After Controversial Call From Tennis Umpire

Coco Gauff made a passionate argument in her own defense after an Olympic umpire made a call she deemed unfair.

At the 2024 Olympics on July 30, the 20-year-old faced off against Croatia's Donna Vekic during the third round of the women's singles match at the Roland-Garros Stadium.

Amid the match, the line judge called a shot from Vekic out of bounds despite it actually being in. Due to the call, Gauff did not return the ball, hitting it into the net. The chair umpire, Jaume Campistol, gave Vekic the point, saying Gauff shouldn't have been affected by the out of bounds call. 

Gauff approached the umpire on the court, questioning the call and telling him, "You called it before I hit the ball." 

Campistol seemed to go back on his call, saying, "I'm not saying I'm right. I'm just saying the way I'm seeing it."

The tearful tennis pro replied, "What do you mean? You have to be 100 percent sure."

To which Campistol doubled down. "Well, I am 100 percent sure, but now you're telling me the opposite," he said. "That's why, I know I'm wrong, but I cannot make my decision after you up here." 

The vocal crowd cheered Gauff on as she continued attempting to defend herself. 

Calling out the umpire's apparent uncertainty, Gauff challenged, "You just said, 'Maybe I'm wrong.'" 

His response wasn't exactly helpful to Gauff. "Well, based on your reaction," he said. "I might be wrong."

As Gauff teared up in frustration, a referee came over, defending the chair umpire's call. 

"I never argue calls and you know this, but this isn't fair. I feel like I'm getting cheated on constantly in this game and I have to argue," a visibly emotional Gauff said. "It always happens to me on this court. I have to advocate for myself every time."

Gauff also claimed that she has received previous apologies due to bad calls on the court. 

"Then you guys apologize afterwards, and you guys say, 'I'm sorry,'" Gauff accused. "But then what does that do for me in the match?"

Though the line judge claimed the apparent bias toward Gauff was "not intentional," the American athelete fired back, "OK, it's not intentional. It happens to me. It happens to Serena [Williams]."

After a lengthy back and forth, Gauff walked back toward the court weeping, saying, "You guys are not fair to me, and I hope that one day the game becomes fair, but it's not."

As Gauff returned, the spectators boo'd, seemingly upset with the umpire's call. 

Gauff went on to lose the singles match against Vekic 7-6, 6-2. The loss caused her to be eliminated from the women's singles round.

After the match, Gauff spoke to reporters about the call. "I felt that they called it before I hit," she said. "I don’t think the ref disagreed. I think he just thought it didn’t, like, affect my swing, which I felt like it did."

Her road to gold isn’t over yet. She still has the opportunity to secure a doubles and mixed doubles medal. 

Until then read on to get to know more of Team USA. 

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