Coco Gauff accuses US Open rival of ‘bending the rules’ after rowing on court

Coco Gauff was praised by Barack and Michelle Obama for protesting the gamemanship of her German opponent after surviving a bad-tempered first round clash at the US Open. “I was getting frustrated because the rules were being bent,” said the No.6 seed.

The American teenager came into her home Grand Slam among the favourites after winning 11 of her previous 12 matches while claiming titles in Washington Cincinnati. But veteran German qualifier Laura Siegemund showed her experience by slowing down play and varying her tactics to win the first set.

Playing in the packed Arthur Ashe Stadium in front of the Obamas and Mike Tyson, the world No.6 won an epic 28-minute game at the start of the second set by finally taking her eighth break point to change the momentum of the match.

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But Gauff complained to Serbian chair umpire Marijana Veljovic that Siegemund then sat down at changeover. And at the insistence of her coaching staff which now includes Brad Gilbert, the American then voiced her anger about the German’s slow play when the speed of play is supposed to be dictated by the server.

“She’s never ready when I’m serving – how is this fair?” Gauff told Veljovic. “Everyone in the crowd knows it. I’ve been quiet the whole match. Now it’s ridiculous. On my serve, she has to be ready.”

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Siegemund was given a warning and then a point penalty for two time violations to huge applause from the home – and she then sarcastically asked permission to get her towel.

After Gauff triumphed 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 in 2h 51 minutes, the players exchanged a frosty handshake but Siegemund did not acknowledge Veljovic. Asked by courtside interview Pam Shriver to “Describe what it was like to play that match”, Gauff said: “Slow” before turning away from the microphone laughing.

In her later press conference, the 19-year-old added: “That was an interesting match. Yeah, it was the most I’ve seen a discussion about the rules which are in place. I was really patient the whole match. Then obviously the crowd started to notice that she was taking long, so you would hear people in the crowd yelling: ‘Time’, doing the watch motion. I heard my team telling me to go up to the umpire earlier.

“I think the pressure worked. Obviously she gave those time violations after that. 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 ref 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.

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“I really don’t like confrontation all that much. Yeah, I was thinking about it the whole match. “I don’t know. I wasn’t sure if I was in the right or not until it, like, happened multiple times. Then I was like: ‘Okay, I know I’m in the right’.

“I didn’t want to come off as a complainer. Today I think it was important to show you can do all this, still stick to your ground, and people are going to respect you. I think as long as you approach a person with respect, then everything should be fine.

And the American revealed her post-match mood had been lifted by backing from the Obamas. “I actually just met them right before I came in here so my mood is a little bit nicer,” she smiled. “Maybe I’m saying nicer things than I actually planned on!. That lightened my mood so much.

I went from being really upset after a win to being really happy. So I’m glad I got to meet them. They gave me some good advice, too. They just told me how I handle myself in these situations. She said it’s good to speak up for myself. I think she was happy that I spoke up for myself today.”

Her new coach Brad Gilbert – who used to work with Andre Agassi – wrote a tennis coaching manual called “Winning Ugly”. And Gauff said: 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.Today was truly winning ugly.”

Gauff will play another teenager, Russian 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva, in round two.

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