Video refereeing in tennis? I think it’s ridiculous that we don’t have it, says American player

On Thursday, world No. 1 Iga Swiatek met world No. 3 Coco Gauff in the Roland Garros semifinals. The former confirmed her role as the favourite and advanced to the final, but the match was accompanied by some complications.

Swiatek controlled the match and won after an hour and a half 2:0 by sets 6:2 and 6:4. Swiatek won last year’s title with a victory over Czech player Karolina Muchova.

However, a very controversial situation occurred in the fourth game of the second set. Gauff was leading 2:1 and 15:0 and the Pole was on serve. The linesman called an out after her serve and Gauff played the ball, but badly. Subsequently, empire umpire Tourte declared the serve good and awarded Swiatek a fift.

Subsequently, Gauff protested the umpire’s decision, as she played the ball after an out was called and the exchange should be replayed. However, the referee did not change her decision.

“It was devastating. When you play against her, every point matters. It matters against anyone, but especially against her. I think it was one of those moments, but I got over it. I won that game,” Gauff said after the match.

Gauff won the game in the end, but lost the entire set by a score of 4:6. At the press conference after the match, she called for the introduction of video umpiring in tennis. This has been used quite successfully by several tournaments on the ATP circuit before, and last year there was even video at the US Open.

“Tennis is the only sport where we not only don’t have video, but often one person makes the decisions. In other sports, there are usually multiple referees. I think it’s ridiculous that we don’t have that. Not only because it happened to me, but I just think every sport should have it,’ complains last year’s US Open winner.

“As a player, it sucks when you see in hindsight that you were right. But what do you take away from it at that moment,’‘ she says.

Source: WTA, Roland Garros