Should VAR be the standard in tennis? Coco Gauff thinks so. The American tennis player lost out to Poland’s Iga Swiatek yesterday in the French Open semi-final, with a call made by the chair umpire jolting Gauff to call for a video review system to be implemented upon her defeat.
Her grievance arose when Swiatek's served when Gauff led the second 2-1 in the second set.
There Gauff set for her backhand when the line judge deemed the ball to be out, but the chair umpire, Aurelie Tourte, overruled the decision and called it in.
When the original ‘out’ call was made, Gauff sent her backhand wide, and rather than have Swiatek retake the shot, Tourte put forward that Gauff’s shot wasn’t affected in the process, and therefore handed her the ball to start the next play.
Gauff was outraged at the controversial decision, and aired her thoughts.
"He called it and then I hit it. I'm a thousand per cent sure," she said.
"If he called it before I hit it, I stop my reaction. I didn't even finish my follow-through."
Upset, the US Open champion then addressed the officials directly.
"You're wrong," she insisted.
"It's the second time that happened. You should be ashamed. It's a Grand Slam semi-final, know the rules of the game,” she added.
The world number four then wiped the tears away from her face before continuing the game with Swiatek, although she eventually went on to fall short, 6-2 6-4.
After the game, the 20 year old further outlined her opinion on the situation with reporters.
"I think it was just overwhelming. Obviously, I'm losing the match," she began.
"When you're playing against her every point matters... against anybody, but especially against her. I think it was just one of those moments, but I overcame it. I won that game.
"So I usually don't get too frustrated with decisions like that, but I think it was just a combination of everything going on in the moment."
Should VAR be the standard in tennis? Coco Gauff thinks so
As to the call for the implementation of a video system to aid with refereeing, Gauff believes it’s “almost ridiculous” that it isn’t the standard in tennis.
Others have called for video replays to be put in place before, even in cases where they have come out on the right side of a result. For example, Briton Cameron Norrie said that video assets should be utilised after her got away with a double bounce in a second round win versus Lucas Pouille at Roland Garros in 2023.
It has been used at some tournaments before, namely the US Open, who became the first Grand Slam to use the system at last year’s edition.
There it generated positive feedback, and Gauff is of the opinion that such measures should be extended more widely.
"I think 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," she said.
"I know the US Open brought some of it last year. I know we used it in our doubles at one point. I definitely think it's almost ridiculous we don't have it. Not just speaking because that happened to me, but I just think every sport has it.
“Also, there are so many decisions that are made, and it sucks as a player to go back or online and you see that you were completely right, and it's like, what does that give you in that moment?
"In situations you can call for the supervisor, but there's not much they can do from that standpoint. 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."
On the other hand, her opponent Swiatek, had reservations when she was asked to express her thoughts on the subject.
"Honestly, I don't know how it would look logistically," the world No 1 said.
"When can you ask an umpire to call a video replay or when is it up to her to do that. Because I think the umpire today was pretty sure with her call,” she continued.
