Iga Swiatek shared her perspective on the dispute between the match umpire and Coco Gauff during their semi-final showdown at the 2024 Roland Garros.
Gauff engaged in a conversation with the match umpire Aurelie Tourte during her match against Swiatek at Roland Garros, which Swiatek ultimately won in two sets. The disputed point played a pivotal role in the second set.
Gauff felt aggrieved by the umpire’s decision to award Swiatek the point, believing it should have been replayed. She claimed that the line umpire’s initial call, which was later overturned by the match umpire, caused a distraction that led to her missed return.
Swiatek, when asked about the incident post-match, expressed confusion over the whole situation, citing her limited viewpoint during the exchange.
“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 opted not to involve herself in the dispute between the umpire and Gauff as the ruling was in her favor. She acknowledged that once an umpire makes a decision, it is unlikely to be reversed, as was the case with Tourte.
“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.”
Swiatek also pondered on the feasibility of implementing video replays in tennis, questioning the logistical aspects of such a system.
“I think it would be easier to have that replay but honestly, I don’t know how it would look like logistically, when can you ask an umpire to call a video replay, or when it’s up to her to do that because I think the umpire today was pretty sure with her call. So I don’t know how that would look like.”
