America’s tennis star
Coco Gauff has stated that she does
not regret talking to the chair umpire in the
US Open first-round encounter.
The 19-year-old secured a win in a heated first-round
contest of the fourth and final Grand Slam of the year against Germany’s Laura Siegemund
with a score of 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.
During the match, Gauff was unhappy with the chair umpire
and expressed her frustration in an exchange of words.
The Atlanta-born was quoted in a report where she stated
that she does not ‘regret’ talking to the chair umpire the way she did.
“I was really patient the whole match,” she said. “She was
going over the time since the first set. I never said anything. I would look at
the umpire, and she didn't do anything. But then it got to the point where she
was doing it a lot on my serve. I was being nice. My team told me I should have
spoke up earlier.
“I think the pressure worked. Obviously, she gave those time
violations after that. I was finally happy when the time violation came. There
was also a situation after the long game in the first set, she was sitting
down. I told the ref that she's not allowed to sit down because that's the
rule.
“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. The
frustration was bottling, to be honest. I think honestly if I could do it all
over again, I would have said something earlier, maybe on a changeover, not so
much like when I was serving. Other than that, I don't regret talking to the
ref the way I did.”
Gauff is now set to face off Russia’s Mirra Andreeva in the
round of 64 on Wednesday.