Coco Gauff loses to Donna Vekic at Olympics after line call controversy

PARIS — The top American tennis player Coco Gauff is out of the Olympic women’s singles under controversial circumstances after a 6-7, 2-6 defeat to Croatia’s Donna Vekic on Court Philippe-Chatrier at Roland Garros.

A high-quality contest was overshadowed by a disputed line call at a crucial juncture in the second set, prompting Gauff to say, “I feel like I’m getting cheated on constantly in this game,” adding that “it happens to me, it happened to Serena (Williams).”

At 2-3, 30-40, Gauff served into Vekic’s forehand, and as Gauff prepared to hit a return that went deep to the baseline, a linesperson called the ball out as the American swung for a forehand. Gauff pulled up and sent the ball into the net.

The chair umpire then overturned the point because Vekic’s ball had landed in, giving her the break of Gauff’s serve to go up, 4-2. That prompted Gauff to appeal that the call had hindered the completion of her swing.

Afterward, Gauff, who was the flagbearer for Team USA alongside LeBron James, said that she “felt that they called it before I hit.

“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.

“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 (Video Assistant Referee) 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.”

“It’s not fair at all. You guys are not fair to me and I hope one day that the game becomes fair but it’s not,” Gauff said in an extended back and forth with the chair umpire and the supervisor.

Play continued with Gauff down a break and she fought back in the next Vekic service game, but Vekic saved multiple break points, and ultimately cruised to an impressive victory by breaking Gauff again in the final game.

Vekic, who recently reached the Wimbledon semifinals for her best result at a Grand Slam, played well throughout, controlling points with monster forehands and a lethal drop shot. Down 5-3 in the first set, Vekic broke Gauff at love to turn the match around. She won the first-set tiebreak, 9-7, and recovered another early break in the second set to stay on serve.

Gauff, having been up in the first set, refused to attribute the loss to the call. “I can’t say I would have won the match if I would have won that point. But being down a break… Maybe replaying that point can make a big difference in that game.

“But I’m not gonna sit here and say one point affected the result today, because I was already on the losing side of things before that point happened.”

Gauff’s Olympic campaign will continue with Taylor Fritz, who beat Britain’s Jack Draper in the singles earlier. The duo play in the mixed doubles later today, fourth on Simonne-Mathieu.

(Patricia de Melo Moreira/AFP via Getty Images)