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Coco Gauff has gained thumping support from her fans on the internet over her altercation with the chair umpire during her semifinal against Iga Swiatek at the 2024 French Open. Gauff bowed out of the tournament with a straight-set loss on Thursday, June 6.
The loss marked Gauff's 11th loss to Swiatek in 12 meetings overall and fifth in as many duels on clay. She committed a staggering 39 unforced errors, four double faults, and had her serve broken four times as she went down 6-2, 6-4 in less than 100 minutes.
In the second set, notably, the American went through an emotional meltdown after claiming to be wronged by chair umpire Aurelie Tourte. It happened in the fourth game at 0-15, when the official overruled a line call on Iga Swiatek's serve for which Coco Gauff's return ended in the net.
Tourte awarded the point to the Pole sparking a protest from the World No. 3, who argued the point needed to be replayed as the line official's call disrupted her rhythm. Tourte, however, stood her ground leaving Coco Gauff in tears.
Tennis fans on X (formerly Twitter) sided with the 20-year-old recalling the days when 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams faced similar situations.
"The umpires used to cheat Serena the same way. Especially when she played Justine Henin and Jennifer Capriati, with their cheating a*ses," a fan wrote.
"Same bs that happened to Serena is also happening to Coco and good for her for calling it out for THAT crowd to boo the umpire in favor of Coco says it all," wrote another.
Here are a few more reactions from X:
"This is beginning to remind me of two sisters who had some [sh*tty] calls back in the day! Yeah I'm that old and Peperidge Farms remembers," a fan stated.
"Really poor from the umpire. Clearly had an effect on her shot. Incredible from Gauff to break serve after it clearly upset her alot," a fan commented.
"I'm so very tired of these umpires. And Black women experience it the most. Forever Team @CocoGauff! Iga knew that call was out too," a fan added.
"Coco is about to do what Venus and Serena couldn't do, and that's have international fans call out the blatant anti-blackness. Good luck to all parties involved," a fan remarked.
Coco Gauff afloat in French Open 2024 women's doubles draw, to play semifinals on Friday
Coco Gauff has the opportunity to leave Roland Garros with a trophy this year despite the heartbreak in the singles as she remains afloat in the doubles draw alongside Katerina Siniakova from the Czech Republic.
Gauff and Siniakova, seeded fifth, have reached the semifinals already and are set to take on the all-American duo of Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk, seeded eighth, on Friday, June 7.
Coco Gauff and Katerina Siniakova are yet to drop a set in their campaign for the doubles championship at the 2024 French Open. Thus far, they have defeated pairs of Xu Yifan-Anna Danilina, Miriam Kolodziejova-Anna Siskova, Wang Xinyu-Ena Shibahara, and Nadiia Kichenok-Miyu Kato.
