Olympian claims she’s ‘always cheated’ as crowd booed during heated five-minute argument with umpire
An Olympic tennis contender has claimed she is 'always cheated' after she cried during a heated dispute with officials.
Temperatures were soaring on and off the Tennis court at the Paris Games today (30 July), after sporting star Coco Gauff looked very distressed, in a five-minute argument with the chair umpire.
Having just lost her match to Donna Vekic, 20-year-old Gauff was then eliminated from the women’s singles competition at Stade Roland Garros.
The five-minute debacle saw Gauff visually unhappy as she insisted that her ball had been called out before she’d even hit it to Vekic.
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During the tense conversation, she said: "I never argue these calls.
"But he called it out before I hit the ball.
"It’s not even a perception; it’s the rules.
"I always have to advocate for myself.”
The umpire's decision even stirred up some boos from the crowd.
"This isn’t fair. I feel like I’m getting cheated on constantly in this game.
"I constantly feel like that,” she said.
“And then you guys apologize afterwards, you say, ‘I’m sorry,’ and then what does that do for me in the match?”
She also broke down in tears, saying: "This always happens to me."
And she isn't exactly wrong, as a similar situation did in fact happen to Gauff at the French Open semifinals.
During the match, she lost to Iga Swiatek, following another argument with a chair umpire.
After this experience, she branded it 'almost ridiculous' that tennis didn't use VAR (Video Assistant Referee) systems during the game.
Talking to the Athletic, she explained: "There have been multiple times this year where that happened to me where I feel like I always have to be an advocate for myself on the court.
"I feel like in tennis, we should have a VAR system because these points are big deals.
"Usually, afterwards they apologize.
"It’s kind of frustrating when the sorry doesn’t help you once the match is over."
This is the first time Gauff has competed in the Olympic Games, and although the end of the women's singles competition was an unfortunate outcome for her, she still has the chance to win a medal in the doubles and mixed doubles.
She it set to play for Team USA with Taylor Fritz later on.
Mia Williams