Coco Gauff’s Coach’s Desperate Plea Goes for a Toss Despite a Series of Controversies at Monte-Carlo Masters

ATP has turned a deaf ear, it seems. Coco Gauff’s coach Brad Gilbert’s attempt to sweep the recent umpiring controversies under the rug seems to have failed. While Brad wants the incorporation of Electronic Line Calling(ELC) earlier than 2025(as announced last year), the Director of Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, David Massey, has recently got the “vendetta…a bit weird honestly”.

During the ongoing Monte Carlo umpiring debacle, the French journalist Eric Salliot recently dropped a bombshell. Remember when World No. 4 Daniil Medvedev called for a specific linesperson to be sacked? Owing to this, the tournament director showed up at a recent review press conference. Confirming the release of ELC by only 2025, David said, “Well, yes, indeed this decision has been confirmed, and unless ATP changes their mind, there will be no longer linesmen next year here anymore.”

Just two days ago, Brad Gilbert was left “disheveled” at the ATP Tour’s decision on the delay of electronic line calling. The 20-year-old tennis player’s coach highlighted the repercussions of depending entirely on human judgment while officiating. However, his plea went in vain, as the tournament official made his initial plan quite evident once again.

However, not only did the tournament director give a quick answer to Brad’s plea, but he also hit back at the Russian tennis players’ outburst defending the officials, even though they will be replaced by the electronic line calling in 2025.

This all started when Medvedev and Sinner caught themselves in a series of controversies revolving around the umpire calls. Daniil Medvedev fueled the simmering controversy when he publicly expressed his dissatisfaction following his defeat against Karen Khachanov, suggesting that the referee should be fired.

The tense atmosphere of the competition was further highlighted when chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani interfered during his opening match, pleading with the 28-year-old not to raise his anger after overturning two calls. While Jannik Sinner also went through the somewhat same problem, he accepted the crucial umpiring error that contributed to his Monte-Carlo semi-final loss.

Monte-Carlo director stood against Medvedev

This year, the Monte-Carlo Masters’ director remained unwavering in his support of the referees despite doubts about their accuracy, even in the face of Hawkeye’s data pointing to several mistakes. Moreover, he did not agree with Medvedev’s decision to clearly fire the referee who made a choice against him.

Massey stated, “Well, it’s difficult, and this is why the ATP wants really to have the best system for line decisions, but I believe the linesmen that are here globally are of very high quality. There is a tough selection for them, and they are coming from everywhere in the world.”

Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see what the series of controversies turns out to be. What are your thoughts over the same let us know in the comment section below.

ALSO READ: Coco Gauff Enjoys the Easter Vibes as She Shares a Heartfelt Message to Her Fans