Olympic tennis

Tearful drama for Gauff – Kerber continues to amaze

Coco Gauff was surprisingly eliminated in the round of 16 in Paris.(Bild: Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Tearful drama for Coco Gauff! The US-American, seeded number two, has had to bow out of the Olympic tennis tournament in the round of 16. She lost 6:7(7),2:6 to Croatia's Donna Vekic in Roland Garros on Tuesday after initially leading 5:2. "I regularly feel cheated here," raged Gauff.

Emotions ran high in the second set. Gauff, who belonged to the closest circle of medal contenders, got into an argument with the chair umpire. At 2:3 and 30:40 from Gauff's point of view, the Croatian played the ball exactly on the line, but a line judge gave the ball out. Gauff's return then landed in the net. The decision was later overturned and the ball was awarded to Vekic. Gauff reacted visibly emotionally, even bursting into tears and arguing heatedly with the chair umpire. "That's not fair! That's not fair! Why does this always happen to me?" Gauff shouted. 

Shortly afterwards, the head referee arrived on Court Philippe Chartrier. "I regularly feel cheated here! This is the third time this has happened to me this year," said Gauff.

But the decision stood. Vekic, who had waited out all the drama on the other side, took a 4:2 lead, then got her own service game through and even broke Gauff once more to make the final score 6:2.

Gauff is out. The German Angelique Kerber, who has hardly been successful in recent months, continued to amaze with a 6:4, 6:3 win against the former US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez (CAN). Her quarter-final opponent has not yet been determined.