Chris Evert slammed "an awful" Aurelie Tourte call in the Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek match as the American tennis legend was heartbroken to see Gauff in tears when she knows the 20-year-old "would never tell a lie to the umpire."
During a 2-6 4-6 loss to Swiatek in the French Open semifinal, Gauff was left in tears after being 100 percent sure that a very wrong and unfair call was made against her.
After Gauff returned one of Swiatek's serves that was called out late but then overturned by Tourte, she automatically lost the point because her return went wide. Gauff immediately approached Tourte, trying to explain how she returned the ball after hearing the initial out call. But Tourte was adamant that she hit the return before a line umpire called Swiatek's serve out.
"You should be ashamed and know the rules of the game. This is the second time this has happened. It’s a Grand Slam semifinal," Gauff told Tourte during the argument.
Since Gauff had no doubt that she was telling thetruth, she asked Tourte to check out with the line umpire in question what happened.
“No he did not. He called it and then I hit it. I’m 1,000 percent sure. If he called it before I hit it, I stop my reaction. I didn’t even finish my follow-through. He called it before I hit it. Will you ask him?” Gauff said.
After Tourte denied that request, the crowd started booing - which led to Gauff telling the chair umpire: "They are booing because you are wrong."
Gauff then returned to the baseline but with tears in her eyes.
Evert on the Gauff and Tourte moment: That's awful, awful officiating...
Evert, who works as an analyst and commentator for Eurosport during the French Open, appeared to be devastated for Gauff. On air, the former 18-time Grand Slam champion defended Gauff by stating that the top-ranked American female tennis player was not a liar or someone who would do stuff like that.
“She’s right by the way. Coco would never tell a lie to the umpire. She’s crying. That’s awful… awful officiating," Evert said on Eurosport.
“You wonder if this sparks a little change in momentum now, with the crowd too – and it being a bit of a distraction for Iga.”
In that game fourth game of the second set, Gauff actually ended up breaking Swiatek for the first time in the match and opened a 3-1 lead. But unfortunately for Gauff, Swiatek made a big response as she won the next four games before sealing a 6-2 6-4 win.
What Gauff, Swiatek said about the Tourte incident after their match?
After the match, Gauff - who will reach a new career-high ranking of No. 2 on Monday - explained why having replays for such situations is something that tennis should and must introduce.
“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,” Gauff said.
“In other sports there’s usually multiple refs in making a decision. It’s almost ridiculous that we don’t have it. Not also just speaking because that happened to me, but I just think every sport has it. 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.
“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.”
Meanwhile, Swiatek pretty much provided a politically correct answer when asked about the Gauff and Tourte incident, saying she didn't know who was right and therefore getting involved in their argument didn't make sense.
"Well, I think here it would only be about you know the sound because if the line umpire called it after Coco’s return or not. I think he called it after her shot but I am never sure honestly because I am focusing kind of on myself. I don’t know what you guys think," Swiatek said.
"It’s the umpire’s decision so honestly I knew that if the umpire already made a decision she is not going to change it so I didn’t really want to get into the discussion because for me it didn’t really make sense but if Coco thought differently than it’s normal I guess to say something but I did not know honestly how the conversation look like."
After exiting the French Open singles event, Gauff remained in Paris as she and Katerina Siniakova are set to play in women's doubles final versus Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini on Sunday.
