Coco Gauff said she couldn\u2019t \u201creally get upset\u201d with the climate protestors who caused a 45-minute delay in the middle of her US Open semifinal against Karol\u00edna Muchov\u00e1 on Thursday. <\/p>\n
Gauff, who went on to win the match 6-4 7-5 and reach her second grand slam final, was leading at the start of the second set when the disruption took place. <\/p>\n
In a statement, the US Open called it a \u201cfan-related\u201d incident on Arthur Ashe Stadium and said one attendee \u201caffixed himself to the floor and due to the nature of this action, medical professionals, NYPD and security personnel were needed in order to resolve the issue and remove the fan from the stands.\u201d <\/p>\n
As the attendee \u2013 who was shouting about \u201cenvironmental issues,\u201d according to the ESPN broadcast \u2013 was removed, fans inside the stadium cheered. <\/p>\n
Four protesters were involved, and three of them \u201cwere escorted out of the stadium without further incident,\u201d according to a statement from the US Tennis Association. <\/p>\n
\u201cThroughout history, moments like this are definitely defining moments,\u201d Gauff later told reporters. \u201cI believe in climate change. I don\u2019t really know exactly what they were protesting. I know it was about the environment. I 100% believe in that. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think there are things we can do better. I know the tournaments are doing things to do better for the environment. Would I prefer it not happening in my match? 100%, yeah. I\u2019m not gonna sit here and lie. But it is what it is.\u201d <\/p>\n
Gauff and Muchov\u00e1 both left the court during the delay as the protestors were escorted out of the stadium. <\/p>\n
Climate protestors also disrupted last year\u2019s French Open and matches earlier this year at Wimbledon, where they sprinkled orange confetti and jigsaw puzzle pieces on the grass playing surface. <\/p>\n
\u201cI had a feeling it was going to happen this tournament,\u201d said Gauff. \u201cIt happened in the French Open, it happened in Wimbledon. So, you know, following the trend, it was definitely going to happen here. <\/p>\n
She added: \u201cI wasn\u2019t pissed at the protesters. I know the stadium was because it just interrupted entertainment. I always speak about preaching what you feel and what you believe in. It was done in a peaceful way, so I can\u2019t get too mad at it. <\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, I don\u2019t want it to happen when I\u2019m winning up 6-4 1-0 and I wanted the momentum to keep going. But hey, if that\u2019s what they felt they needed to do to get their voices heard, I can\u2019t really get upset at it.\u201d <\/p>\n
Gauff, the youngest woman to reach the US Open final since Serena Williams in 1999, will next face Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka as she bids to win her first grand slam title. <\/p>\n\n
Coco Gauff said she couldn\u2019t \u201creally get upset\u201d with the climate protestors who caused a 45-minute delay in the middle of her US Open semifinal against Karol\u00edna Muchov\u00e1 on Thursday. Gauff, who went on to win the match 6-4 7-5 and reach her second grand slam final, was leading at the start of the second <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8044,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8043","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}