Aryna Sabalenka backs Coco Gauff’s claims about having a video review system on the tennis tour
The tennis tour has seen many cases regarding controversial chair umpire decisions recently, including Coco Gauff's incident at the Olympics.
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Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff (via X)
Second seed Aryna Sabalenka has backed defending US Open champion Coco Gauff‘s calls for a video review system on the tennis tour. The ATP and WTA tours have faced numerous controversies regarding officials recently.
Most of the issues have surfaced during the clay court season when players complained about the spot where the ball was landing. However, similar concerns have also arisen during the American hard court season.
I think that's really important that we have this system here, because I saw those tough calls. I think that's really unfair for some of the players, you know, like, not to be able to review the referee calls. And also, for the referees, you kind of can understand, like, tennis improved a lot, and it's faster, it's not that easy to be on the chair, be a chair umpire.Aryna Sabalenka at the US Open pre-tournament press conference
One of the most recent cases involved Jack Draper‘s controversy against Felix Auger-Aliassime at the Cincinnati Open. Draper controversially hit the volley before it touched the ground on his opponent’s side. However, the chair umpire awarded Draper the point.
So I think that's going to be helpful for everybody and healthy for everyone to have these reviews. So I think that's really a cool thing to have.Aryna Sabalenka added
This controversy generated significant buzz across the tennis world. Even newly-crowned Olympic champion Novak Djokovic addressed the matter on X, calling the situation ’embarrassing.’
Coco Gauff raises demand for having a video review system on the tennis tour
Defending champion Coco Gauff has once again called for tennis hierarchies to implement the video review system at Grand Slams and Masters Series 1000 events. The American has been a strong advocate for this development for a long time.
We're playing for too much on the line for that not to be a thing, especially when other sports have it where, you know, maybe they don't even have as much of the resources tennis has financially. So I definitely think that it should be, especially at the slams, it should be here and 1000 tournaments.Coco Gauff said at the US Open pre-tournament press conference
Gauff has faced issues with tennis technology. Recently, she was involved in an incident during the Roland Garros semi-finals against Iga Swiatek, where her return was judged out, by the line judge. However, the chair umpire overruled the decision.
A second incident also took place in Paris, this time at the Olympic Games. In her match against Donna Vekic, the line judge called Vekic’s return out, but the chair umpire overruled the decision, deeming the return in. Gauff did not attempt to play the ball, resulting in the point being awarded to Vekic, who went on to win the match.
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Fahad Hamid
(628 Articles Published)