American tennis star Coco Gauff has expressed her understanding and lack of animosity toward the climate protesters who disrupted her U.S. Open semi-final match against Karolina Muchova on Thursday. However, she did mention that their timing could have been more considerate.
Gauff, seeded sixth in the tournament, defeated Czech player Karolina Muchova with a score of 6-4, 7-5 at Arthur Ashe Stadium, securing her spot in the U.S. Open championship match for the first time, marking another milestone in her impressive season.
The interruption occurred after Gauff won the first set and took the first game of the second set when four protesters in the stands began shouting, briefly halting the match. While three of the protesters were promptly escorted out of the venue without further incident, a fourth individual “affixed their bare feet to the floor” of the stadium, according to the USTA.
Gauff commented on the incident, saying, “It was done in a peaceful way, so I can’t get too mad at it. Obviously I don’t want it to happen when I’m winning up 6-4, 1-0, and I wanted the momentum to keep going. But hey, if that’s what they felt they needed to do to get their voices heard, I can’t really get upset at it.”
The 19-year-old tennis sensation is no stranger to social activism, having spoken out at a protest following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died in police custody in the United States three years ago. While Gauff admitted she was not entirely clear on the specific nature of Thursday’s environmental protest, she affirmed her belief in climate change and supported “preaching about what you feel and what you believe in.”
Gauff added, “Would I prefer it not happening in my match? 100%, yeah. I’m not going to sit here and lie. But it is what it is.”
Thursday’s incident was not the first time this tennis season that activists disrupted a major tournament, as ‘Just Stop Oil’ protesters previously interrupted play at Wimbledon.
