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Coco Gauff has found fellow American Danielle Collins' backing in her call for the introduction of a VR system in tennis officiating. Gauff made the demand after having a heated debate with a chair umpire during her French Open semifinal.
The American's singles run at the French Open came to an end after she lost 6-2, 6-4 to Iga Swiatek in a final-four fixture that witnessed unfortunate drama over a line call.
In the fourth game of the second set, Gauff lost a point after the chair umpire corrected a call on Swiatek's serve that was initially called out by the line judge. The American requested to replay the point as she claimed to be hindered by the line judge's call but was denied.
The development reduced her to tears as she eventually lost her 11th battle to the Pole in 12 meetings. She expressed annoyance at the official's decision while talking to the reporters during her post-match presser.
The World No. 3 disapproved of the lack of VR system in tennis, saying:
"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, it’s usually multiple refs in making a decision. I know US Open brought some of it last year I believe.
"I definitely think that at this point it’s almost ridiculous that we don’t have it, not speaking because that just happened to me but every sport has it."
Danielle Collins later took to Instagram and endorsed Gauff's viewpoint. She shared a news post about the 20-year-old's statement in her story and wrote:
"Agreed"
Danielle Collins also contended for the women's singles championship at Roland Garros this year but exited the draw with a 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-4 loss to Serbia's Olga Danilovic in the second round.
Coco Gauff: "It s*cks as a player to go back online and see that you were completely right"
In the same presser at the 2024 French Open, Coco Gauff suggested the chair official's decision hurt her more on finding out later that she was right.
"Also, there’s so many decisions made and it s*cks as a player to go back online and you see that you were completely right," Coco Gauff said.
The semifinalist then talked about the supervisor's presence being ineffective in such scenarios. She said:
"You can call the supervisor but there’s not much they can do from that standpoint. So, I definitely 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's journey at the French Open hasn't ended with the loss to Iga Swiatek in the singles semifinal, as she is still competing in the women's doubles event alongside Katerina Siniakova. The pair are set to face Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk in the semifinals on Friday, June 7. Whoever wins the match, will face either 11th seeds Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani or Marta Kostyuk and Elena-Gabriela Ruse in the final.
