Tennis journalist Jon Wertheim has weighed in on the scheduling controversy around Coco Gauff and Jelena Ostapenko's quarter-final clash at the US Open.
Home favorite and sixth seed Gauff soared past twentieth seed Ostapenko in their meeting on Arthur Ashe, taking the 19-year-old to her first US Open semi-final.
Her Latvian opponent was unable to get a game on the board in the first set as she piled up unforced errors and suffered break after break from the dominant American player, who won the match 6-0, 6-2. This was especially crushing for Ostapenko after she ousted the defending champion and top seed Iga Swiatek in the fourth round.
After the match, some fans called out what they perceived to be 'unfair' scheduling that put Ostapenko at a disadvantage. This was because the 26-year-old had played a night session in her match against Swiatek on Sunday before being scheduled for the day session against Gauff on Tuesday.
This led one fan to ask Wertheim whether or not the scheduling was unfairly done. Wertheim responded by saying that Ostapenko would probably be asked about it in her post-match press conference and that he had heard that Gauff's team had pushed for a day-session match.
"This is the first question Ostapenko will be asked... I was told the Gauff camp was pushing hard for a day session today - as they should have been... Scheduling is when players learn how much juice they truly have. Coco (in New York) is dripping..." he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Wertheim was correct in saying that Ostapenko would be questioned on her thoughts about the scheduling decisions. The 2017 French Open champion was clearly unhappy with the way things were organized, saying that she felt it was done to favor her opponent.
"When you go to sleep at 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning, the whole day where you need a few days just to recover. I think it's a little bit crazy. I think it was better for her the schedule, because obviously she played much earlier the day I played night session," she said.
However, while some fans supported Ostapenko, with one saying "I think it was totally unfair. There needs to be a rule change to prevent this from happening again," others had little sympathy for her.
"She had a day off. Coco actually played yesterday. Coco will also have to play doubles tomorrow. A day session should’ve been no issue," wrote one.
"It would have been unfair if today was Monday, but Ostapenko did not have to play yesterday. Djokovic played 5 sets the same evening and requested a day match today," added another.
This is the first question Ostapenko will be asked....I was told the Gauff camp was pushing hard for a day session today- as they should have been...Scheduling is when players learn how much juice they truly have. Coco (in New York) is dripping...
Do you think it’s unfair the USTA scheduled Ostapenko as last on Sunday and first on today?
