The premiere of the US Open tennis tournament itself became a drama, seasoned with heightened emotions. One of the big favorites, local teen star Coco Gauff, had to turn the tide against Laura Siegemund. “Anyway, I won disgustingly today,” she admitted after the fight, which was marked by quarrels between tennis players and the referee. The German woman complained about the bullying by the wild crowd.
The largest and noisiest tennis stadium in the world, the Arthur Ash Court, showed off its might. Laura Siegemund recognized her completely.
After the match with Coco Gauff, the 35-year-old German tennis player admitted that she had never experienced anything like this in her long career.
“For the first time I cry at a press conference,” she said after the match with tears in her eyes. She harshly criticized the promiscuous New York public.
“It hurts. I am very disappointed with the way people treated me. They had no respect, no respect for good tennis,” she added, adding that she had not experienced such unfair behavior of the audience, bordering on bullying, in any another court.
The packed aisles where the young American superstar was greeted by, among others, her longtime supporters Barack and Michelle Obama, didn’t deal with the gloved German tennis player.
The crowd booed Siegemund and loudly celebrated her mistakes after the first serve.
The reason for all the hostility was the different concept of both players in preparation for the next ball. Gauff complained several times about the opponent’s delay. “She’s never ready when I’m about to serve,” Judge Mariyana Velovichova warned.
In response, she herself began to serve even faster than usual, which the German did not like.
“He plays unreasonably fast. I can’t even reach for a towel anymore?” Siegemund stated. Of course, she broke the rules, she received two warnings for non-compliance with the regulations, which means fifteen fines.
“Yes, it takes me a lot of time. I must be faster. On the other hand, that’s my style of play and because of that, I’m treated like a bad person,” she said, pointing it out for her New York City. , where she won two Grand Slams in doubles, lost her magic.
“I’ll be back here, but only because it’s a Grand Slam tournament. Definitely not to put on a show for people. When they act like that, they don’t deserve a show,” she emotionally concluded.
Siegemund is unhappy with the referee in the match with Coco Gauff:
“In her last pitch, I never came out on the towel… she plays almost unnecessarily fast. I am always near”
Judge disagrees
“So I can’t go out on a towel at all anymore?”
The crowd whistles. It’s cold in New York tonight. 🥶 pic.twitter.com/99uQaBcJRs
— Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) August 29, 2023
The duel lasted 2 hours and 52 minutes. The sixth racket of the world, Gauff, was finally able to celebrate the victory after sets 3:6, 6:2, 6:4. One of the highlights was an exciting first game of the second set, which lasted 26 minutes and included twelve matches, in which the American converted her eighth break point.
When asked what she thought the match was, the nineteen-year-old star responded with a slight rebuke to her opponent. “Slowly,” she said.
“There were a lot of strange exchanges. I was ready for these tricks, because last week I played with Karolina Muchova, and she has an amazing throw. But she is a more aggressive player than Laura. In any case, I won badly today,” Gauff said clearly. referring to his new coach, Brad Gilbert.
It was he who in the 1990s published a relatively popular book entitled “Disgusting Victories” with the subtitle “Mental War in Tennis”.
The winner of two prep tournaments – in Washington and Cincinnati – dealt with psychological warfare on Monday. Also thanks to the support of the wild crowd.
Coco Gauff was upset about the referee in the match against Siegemund:
“She is never ready when I serve. She counted the hours 4 times. You once gave her a time violation. How fair is this? You announce the score about 6 seconds after the end of the draw.”
— Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) August 29, 2023
Gauffova, who according to Martina Navratilova is the biggest favorite for the season’s Grand Slam final, said after the match that she believed Sigemundova was deliberately delayed.
When the referee didn’t punish the delay at first, she thought “the rules are being broken”.
In the end, she could not stand it and complained. “I think it worked, the referee then paid more attention to it. But it upset me, you need to strictly follow the rules of the time limit,” she said.
Some American pundits were surprised at how wild and furious the otherwise calm and “good” Gauff was during the opening bout of the US Open. They attributed this to the significant nervousness and pressure that falls on the so far only nineteen-year-old player.
“Brad Gilbert emphasizes more aggression towards Gauff. It works tactically, but will it work emotionally? More assertiveness is probably good for Gauff’s game, but you don’t want it to turn her into someone she isn’t.” he thought. Tennis expert Steve Tinyor from Tennis.com specialized server.
In the second round, the American will face another tennis prodigy, sixteen-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva. They will have to repeat the fight from last year’s Roland Garros, where Gauffova won 6:7, 6:1, 6:1 in the third round.