"It’s almost ridiculous that we don’t have it," Gauff urges French Open to implement video replay technology

Coco Gauff called for the use of video action replay in tournaments like the French Open after her loss to Iga Swiatek by 2-6, 4-6. The world No. 3 expressed her frustration after a controversial decision by the umpire in the middle of the second set and said at a press conference that it is ‘ridiculous’ that tennis does not use these technological systems.

The American had a heated discussion with the umpire during the second set after a serve from the Pole was called out and the umpire overruled it. However, the umpire decided not to replay the point as Gauff missed the return. According to the 20-year-old tennis player, she hit the ball after the line call was made, but the umpire disagreed and ended up awarding the point to Swiatek.

The 2023 US Open champion reached the semifinals of Roland Garros for the second time in her career. In 2022, she played the final of the tournament against Swiatek, but on that occasion, too, the Pole emerged victorious. Gauff has a poor record against Swiatek, with just 1 win out of 11 matches.

In the second set, Swiatek made a serve that the line judge called out, but the umpire overruled and then awarded the point to the Pole as Gauff missed the return. The American's complaint is that the line judge's call distracted her, so the point should have been replayed in her view, something the umpire denied amid boos from the crowd.

At the press conference, Coco addressed the controversial point and criticized the lack of video action replay technology at Roland Garros: “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 in making a decision,” said Gauff.

“I know the US Open brought some of it last year, I believe. I know we used it in our doubles at one point,” she added. “At this point, it’s almost ridiculous that we don’t have it. Not just 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,” she continued. “Also, 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,” she added.

On the other hand, Swiatek was asked for her opinion on the implementation of new technology: “I think it would be easier to have the replay but honestly I don’t know what it would look like logistically,” she said. “When can you ask an umpire to call a video replay or when it’s up to her (the opponent) to do that? I think the umpire today was pretty sure with her call, so I don’t know what that would look like,” the world No. 1 claimed.