Coco Gauff Admits She was Brought to Tears by ‘Pushy’ Anti-Doping Officer: ‘It Literally Made Me Cry’
Coco Gauff Admits She was Brought to Tears by ‘Pushy’ Anti-Doping Officer: ‘It Literally Made Me Cry’
Natasha DyeWed, July 1, 2026 at 7:32 PM UTC
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Coco Gauff on May 22, 2026 in Paris, FranceCredit: Antonio Borga/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty -
Coco Gauff told reporters at a Wimbledon press conference on Monday, June 29 that an interaction with an anti-doping officer from the International Tennis Integrity Agency brought her to tears
"I'm not going to lie, some of them can be pushy, make you feel like you're doing something wrong," the tennis champ said
Gauff said she "found out I was in the right and I didn't have to do anything," after the interaction
Coco Gauff said she was brought to tears by the International Tennis Integrity Agency's process for anti-doping testing.
After her first-round win over Germany's Tamara Korpatsch on Monday, June 29, the 22-year-old tennis star was asked about the daily, required 60-minute window of availability players need to provide to the ITIA, as well as any additional testing if a doping control officer "locates and notifies a player outside of that hour" according to the .
The No. 7 seeded player said, "I'm not going to lie, some of them can be pushy, make you feel like you're doing something wrong," when she spoke to reporters after the match, per the AP.
Coco Gauff in Rome on May 9, 2026Credit: Robert Prange/Getty
Gauff said there was an instance when a doping control officer "came outside my time slot" that left her uncomfortable.
"The way she was speaking to me on the phone, it literally made me cry afterwards," Gauff shared.
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Then, the tennis star said she "found out I was in the right and I didn't have to do anything," with the officer.
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Gauff also won her match on Wednesday, July 1 against Argentina's Solana Sierra in three sets.
Her comments about anti-doping protocol come shortly after Serena Williams spoke out against the system ahead of her return to Wimbledon.
"It’s grueling. They changed the rules now,” she told reporters on June 28, ahead of her first match two days later. “I didn’t know some of the rules. So apparently if you miss a test outside of your window, it still counts as missed. I’m like, I guess I can’t go pick up my kids.”
She continued, "It’s unprofessional. I hate it. I think it’s necessary, but I think a lot of the stuff, if I want to go places outside of my window, I should be able to go without having it count as a missed test."
Williams said the intense testing is a "big reason" she hesitated on returning to tennis.
Next, Gauff will play fellow American Claire Liu on Friday, July 3.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
