Coco Gauff’s 2023 US Open was a iconic moment in American tennis.
But it very nearly never happened.
Coco Gauff was furious at the umpire for not calling out time-wastingGETTYGauff’s maiden Grand Slam at the age of 19 in New York was at serious risk in the first round.
She was a set down to Laura Siegemund and, after arguing with the umpire, it felt like everything was going wrong for the American prodigy.
Gauff’s frustration came after Siegemund took time on her serve, constantly allowing the shot clock to tick down to zero.
At the same time, Gauff was keen to take her serves as soon as possible.
In the final set, Gauff had enough of Siegemund’s lack of urgency and walked up to the umpire, Marijana Veljovic.
“She went over the clock about four times, you’ve given her a time violation once. How is this fair?” Gauff was heard saying.
“I’m going at normal speed. I go at medium pace speed”.
Later in the match, the umpire took action against Siegemund and gave her a point penalty, leading to the German hitting out at Veljovic.
“She’s serving extremely fast, almost unreasonably fast, and I’m always here, and one time I go to the towel”, Siegemund complained.
That penalty caused Gauff to go 5-1 up in the decider but Siegemund rallied to pull it back to 5-4.
There were several flashpoints with the umpire that gameGETTY Gauff went on to win that same tournament after surviving a scareGettyHowever, Gauff went on to serve out the set and seal a place in round two, before later winning the entire tournament.
Gauff would have several flashpoints with umpires in the future.
During a French Open semifinal loss in 2024 she broke down crying over a official’s incorrect call on one of her points.
And at the Olympics she broke down after another wrong call led to her demanding a rule change following the defeat.
After her US Open match, Siegemund slammed the US Open crowd for showing her no respect and treating her like a cheater.
“I am very, very disappointed with the way the people treated me today,” said Siegemund afterwards.
“I am a fighter, I never did anything against the audience. I stayed calm. I never made not even a gesture against the audience. And they had no respect for me.
“They treated me bad. They treated me like I was a cheater. Like I was trying sneaky ways to win this match or something. They treated me like I was a bad person.
“But you know there are people who are throwing racquets, who are screaming, who are like making bad gestures toward the audience. I did not one moment in the whole match, and there was a lot of tension going on. Not one moment I did anything.”
Gauff certainly had the audience on her side, playing in New York in on home soil.
She admitted after the match that she did not like confronting the umpire.
“I really don’t like confrontation all that much,” Gauff added.
Two years later Gauff is looking to win her second Grand Slam at the French OpenGetty“I was thinking about it the whole match. I wasn’t sure if I was in the right or not until it happened multiple times. Then I was like, ‘Okay, I know I’m in the right.’ “
A little under two years later, Gauff has gone from strength to strength.
She sits second in the world rankings but is yet to add to her major collection.
The French Open represents her best chance to do so.
She faces home-hero Lois Boisson in the final four after overcoming Madison Keys in the quarterfinals.
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