Coco Gauff ‘definitely won ugly’, but feels ‘the rules were being bent’ by her opponent

Shahida Jacobs
Coco Gauff pleased
A delighted Coco Gauff after winning her tennis match

Coco Gauff got the job done against Laura Siegemund in the first round of the US Open, but afterwards she admitted her annoyance with her opponent’s time-wasting.

Fresh from winning titles at the DC Citi Open and the Cincinnati Open, many believe Gauff is a serious contender to win this year’s title at Flushing Meadows.

However, she got off to a poor start as Siegemund gave her the runaround with some brilliant shot making and volleying in the first set, but the American eventually got her act together to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 in nearly three hours.

“I definitely won ugly tonight. It was a lot of weird points, with the slicing. Usually something that I usually do well against, opponents who slice. We were prepared for it. I think today was just execution,” she said.

“I just came from playing [Karolina] Muchova last week who has an amazing slice, but obviously she’s a more aggressive player than Laura.

“I think I was trying my best to just stay in the points, try to push her on defense. She was coming to the net a lot. I lost to her in doubles at Wimbledon, so I knew she had good hands. She proved that she did. I think she only missed two or three volleys.

“So, yeah, today was truly winning ugly.”

Siegemund broke in games five and nine of the first set, but Gauff upped her game in the second set as the opening game lasted 26 minutes and had 13 deuces before the sixth seed broke.

A second break followed in game five to ease the nerves as the 19-year-old took the match to a decider.

But the frustration was building as Siegemund used delaying tactics throughout the match, but chair umpire Marijana Veljovic was lenient when it came to handing out time violations.

Gauff had a word with the official and the punishment eventually came, but she felt the “rules were being bent”.

“In the third set, I thought for like half a second maybe I shouldn’t say nothing after I hit that serve. Then I was like, Okay, this is going on too long. I was like, All right, I have to say something,” Gauff explained.

“I think the pressure worked. Obviously she gave those time violations after that. I don’t know. I think the officiating needs to be the same regardless of the player.

“There was also a situation after the long game in the first set, she was sitting down. I told the ref that she’s not allowed to sit down because that’s the rule.

“She said, ‘well, it was a long game’.

“I don’t know exactly what I said. I said, It doesn’t matter if it’s a long game. Endurance is part of tennis. If I’m going in the gym four hours and I’m running tracks and doing cardio, that’s to prepare me for these long moments so she should be as prepared.

“I think that was the situation that I was getting frustrated. I felt like the rules were being bent. That’s why a lot of players get mad when these time violations are called because one umpire is letting them go over, the other is more strict on the time. I think tennis needs to be more strict on the rules for everybody regardless of every situation.”

Up next is an all-teenage clash as Gauff will face 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva, who defeated Australian qualifier Olivia Gadecki 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.


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