"It just fueled me" - Coco Gauff on heated argument with chair umpire after controversial call in Dubai 3R encounter against Karolina Pliskova

Coco Gauff found herself in the middle of a heated exchange with the chair umpire during her 2024 Dubai Tennis Championships third round encounter against Karolina Pliskova.

The incident occurred after the chair umpire, Pierre Bacchi, decided to not award Gauff the point after she successfully challenged a fault serve that her opponent was unable to send back.

The chair umpire was of the opinion that the “out” call interfered with Pliskova’s shot and hence ordered for the point to be replayed, much to Gauff’s chagrin. The American, who had dropped the opening set 6-2 was serving to go up 5-2 in the second set at the time.

She proceeded to try and reason with the umpire, but to no avail. Addressing the incident in her on-court interview, Gauff said the call fuelled her even more and maintained that, she, in her eyes had won the point fair and square.

“I think it just fueled me,” Coco Gauff said. “I wanna watch back the video. I feel confident that it was after."

After coming through the contest 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, Coco Gauff said the call would not have made much difference to the match’s outcome since it was a matter of just one point.

"It’s okay. It’s just one point. It happens in tennis. Players make mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes… It kind of went upward from there for me,” she said.

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"I was just trying to tell myself to stay calm" - Coco Gauff after comeback win in Dubai

Coco Gauff at the Dubai Tennis Championships.

Coco Gauff also reflected on the win overall, saying that staying calm even during the argument with the chair umpire in the second set was the key to her success on the day.

The youngster conceded that she may have dragged the issue a little, but noted that she was doing what she felt was right in that moment.

"Yeah, I was just trying to tell myself to stay calm for the next point because sometimes I get angry," Coco Gauff said. "I go for too much so I was just trying not to let that be the turning point of the set because I think I was up a break at that point. So I was just trying to stay calm with it."

"You know, maybe I dragged it out a little longer then probably needed to, but you know, at the end of the day, I did what I felt was best in the moment," she added.

Gauff will take on Anna Kalinskaya for a place in the Dubai Tennis Championships semifinals. The Russian beat Jelena Ostapenko in her last match 6-4, 7-5.