Coco Gauff’s Controversial Moment With the Chair Umpire Has an Eerie Parallel to Serena Williams’ Frustrated US Open Rant, Says Former Pro

Coco Gauff is a player who has been seen on the tour as someone who keeps her wits about herself. However, she is not someone who is not prone to fighting for what she believes is right. We recently saw her have a heated debate with the chair umpire after a challenge was declared in her favor, but she was not awarded the point.

Many tennis personalities have shared their say in the matter, with most siding with Gauff. Another American legend shared her thoughts in the discussion and went on to relate the incident to what happened with Serena Williams in the 2018 US Open final.

American legend compares the debacles of Coco Gauff and Serena Williams

Alexandra Stevenson is a former American player who joined ESPN’s commentary team in 2019. Stevenson also created a podcast called Serving Aces with Alexandra Stevenson. In the most recent edition, she touched up on the controversy that took place at the Dubai Tennis Championships. As per her, it was similar to the debacle that took place with the Queen of the Court in 2018.

Stevenson said that she saw Gauff being heated up and then calming down after the umpire kept interrupting her. She further said that despite not having faced such an issue before, some umpires are problematic, especially when players are heated up. 

“And I’ve seen what happened to Serena at the US Open with that umpire. And so it kind of brought me back to that. And I went, Okay, this is interesting. Okay, we’re also on the women’s tour here. Right? So this is not a man talking to a man. This is a young woman talking to an older white man. And I’m going to bring in the color now. Okay, young black woman talking to an older white man. Not a good look.”

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Gauff’s interaction with the umpire certainly escalated to the same level as Williams’ argument in 2018. However, with a replay, it could be proven that she was right.

How the argument took place

Serving in the second set after down one set, Gauff hit a serve on the far left, which forced her opponent, Karolina Pliskova, to return the ball into the net. The serve was deemed out, which was challenged by Gauff. The challenge went in her favor, and since Pliskova returned the serve before it was called out, the point should’ve been awarded to the American youngster.

However, the umpire called for the point to be replayed. Gauff fought with the umpire about the rules and asked for the supervisor as well, but her request was denied, making it an unjust call. The tennis world was outraged and lambasted the umpire, including various tennis personalities. It was eventually replayed and Gauff managed to win their clash. What is your outlook on the situation?

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