Coco Gauff was really upset during her third-round match at the 2024 Dubai Championships, and it had to do with the match's umpire.
Inclusion of the permanent live line calling has been in a discussion for a long time in tennis, and in 2025, it should be finally featured in all Tour-level matches, removing any discussions about calls.
However, before the calendars turn, players have to endure one more season, in which some of the tournaments still rely on human line judges and traditional hawk-eye system, as does the WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai.
The third-seeded American, Coco Gauff, started the tournament with a win over Elisabetta Cocciaretto after being previously overpowered by Katerina Siniakova in Doha.
In her second match in Dubai, the 19-year-old took on former world no. 1, Karolina Pliskova, who is yet to lose in her last 11 matches, apart from the Qatar Open withdrawal.
The first set was not good from the 2023 US Open champion, as she started with a 2-6 deficit, but it was a moment with the umpire, Pierre Bacchi, that will likely be the main talking point of the match.
After hitting a serve on the line, Pliskova returned the ball, which didn't land in the court, meaning the American would have won the point. However, the umpire has decided to overturn the call, calling Gauff's ball "out."
But the young American challenged his call, which was incorrect, as the hawk-eye showed that the ball indeed landed in. As a result, after Pliskova's missed return, Gauff thought that she has won the point.
However, the umpire deemed his call as one that could have interrupted the Czech player, so he ordered the world no. 3 to replay the point. The teenager was bewildered by this decision, as she thought that the call clearly came after the ball was already hit.
She started a lengthy discussion with the umpire, during which she demanded to have a supervisor called, but the French umpire refused that over and over again, creating even more unnecessary tension on the court.
Gauff seemingly didn't want to give up, but neither did the umpire, resulting in almost a five-minute discussion, during which nothing was resolved, and the supervisor was not called.
After the long break, Gauff was able to regroup and win the second set of the match 6-4 to send the match into the decider.
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