“This isn’t fair, I’ve been cheated. This always happens to me,” yelled Coco Gauff, as her Paris Olympics dream came crashing. The American sensation was a hot favorite to achieve a podium finish there, but had early exits in each of the three events that she participated in, singles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles. Additionally, a controversy was created when the chair umpire overruled a line call against Gauff during her singles loss against Donna Vekic. This led to growing calls from Gauff to introduce the VAR system in tennis. Looks like the US Open has paid heed to her calls!
Earlier today, the US Open made a historic announcement of expanding the VAR technology after the trials done last year. At the 2023 edition of the tournament, this technology was used on five courts for the main draw matches. However, the US Open is expanding the VAR system to eight courts for the 2024 edition, covering a significant chunk of the matches.
Speaking to SBJ, US Open tournament referee Jake Garner, was hopeful that this move was in the right direction to eliminate controversies due to incorrect line calls. He said, “We assessed the process and the infrastructure needs, and we felt that going to eight courts this year was the right move. It covers about 75% of our singles matches.”
The Olympic Games wasn’t the first time that Coco Gauff had advocated for the VAR system to be used in tennis consistently. During the French Open earlier this season, she was embroiled in a similar controversy following which she pleaded for the VAR technology to be used in tennis.
‘Ridiculous that we don’t have it’ – Coco Gauff on VAR technology
The American sensation was one of the hot favorites to win the French Open title this year. However, her dreams came crashing, just like the Olympic Games, when she lost tamely against Iga Swiatek, albeit in a controversial fashion. During the match, the chair umpire overruled a call in Swiatek’s favor when she was serving, which ignited Gauff as she felt the ball hadn’t touched the line. With technology not being at play at that event, Swiatek was awarded the point, much to Gauff’s agony.
After the match, Gauff pleaded for the introduction of the VAR technology in tennis, saying, “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. In other sports, there’s usually multiple refs making a decision… I definitely think at this point it’s almost ridiculous that we don’t have it. Not only just speaking because that happened to me, but I just think every sport has it.”
With the US Open’s latest move, Gauff would be elated that her calls for the system to be expanded have finally been attended to. Can this be the first step to Gauff’s success at the US Open this year? Let us know your views in the comments below.
