“Coco Gauff Is Incredibly Entitled”: Fans Defend Laura Siegemund After Emotional Press Conference

Coco Gauff may have won her first round match at the US Open 2023, but it was accompanied by a major controversy. Gauff’s reputation is on the line after she was involved in clashing with and mocking her opponent, Laura Siegemund. As a result, Siegemund had an emotional outburst in her post-match press conference.

That press conference has gone viral on social media as tennis enthusiasts have passionately reacted to the same. Coco Gauff and the New York City crowd has come under fire for harshly treating a foreign tennis player for no apparent fault of hers.

Gauff raises tantrums after Siegemund slows down play

Laura Siegemund won the first set, 6-3 much against the expectations of the home crowd against the 4th seed. But Coco Gauff hit back to win the second set, 6-2. However, Siegemund was going about her points slowly, which got to Gauff’s nerves.

Having had enough, Gauff went up to the chair umpire, Marijana Veljovic to complain in the third set furiously and said –

“She’s never ready when I’m serving. … How is this fair?. I’m going a normal speed. Ask any ref here. … I’ve been quiet the whole match. … Now it’s ridiculous. I don’t care what she’s doing on her serve, but (on) my serve, she has to be ready.”

Subsequently, Siegemund was given a warning and some time later, a one-point penalty as code violation for apparently what are considered as intentional delays since she was trying to reach towards her towel to deal with the heat. The increasingly rowdy crowd, the umpire’s decisions and her opponent’s mocking, got to the German who ranted at the umpire – ‘I can’t go to the towel anymore?’, which drew more boos at the Flushing Meadows. After losing the match, she refused to shake hands with the umpire while barely doing the same with her opponent.

At the press conference, Siegemund opened up about the controversy, admitting that her style of play is slow, but completely refuted claims that it was done on purpose to play mind games against Gauff. The 35-year-old German got emotional as she said that she continues to play after reaching this age and achievements for the effort that goes into it and for the people who love watching a game which has a lot of fighting spirit in it. Money is not the main objective for her.

Siegemund is adamant that she played a good game, but did not get the respect that she deserves from her opponent or the crowd. She accused New York City for ‘treating her like a bad person who is a cheater’. She accused many in the crowd for going as far as throwing racquets around and giving poor hand gestures apart from the boos and shouting. The German conceded that she ‘felt less than zero’ in terms of emotion and confidence after that defeat due to being hurt with such shabby treatment. In a damning verdict, Siegemund said that no other city or crowd in the world had treated her in such a manner in her career of 17 years so far.

The 2-time US Open champion in doubles told reporters –

“I am very very disappointed of the way the people treated me today. I’m a fighter. I never did anything against the audience, I stayed calm, not even a gesture against the audience. They had no respect for me, no respect for the way I played, no respect for the player that I am, they had no respect for good tennis.

“There’s no doubt about it that I’m slow. There’s no doubt about it that I have to be quicker. But it’s how I play. But I do it for me, I don’t do it against the (opponent).

“This kind of unfair, respectless behaviour towards the non-American player. I have only experienced it here on this court,” she said.

“I won here two times. I left every minute of every game I played here, everything left out on the court. And this is how (they) treat me? To be treated like that? I will only come back because it’s a Slam. For sure not because of the people and to give them a show.”

Tennis has become a faster sport no doubt and with the Siegemund controversy, perhaps the attention span of audiences comes under question. If her only fault was to play slow, that can certainly not take away the quality of tennis she had to offer against a player nearly half her age. To top it all, Coco Gauff mocking her opponent has certainly angered fans, who have voiced out their opinions on social media.

Laura Siegemund wins hearts after getting mocked by Coco Gauff

Laura Siegemund found a lot of support on X and here are some reactions of users –

The US Open perhaps did not need this at the beginning of the tournament. But with Coco Gauff surviving a surprise test, perhaps all might be forgiven or forgotten should she make it to the final of the Grand Slam. When it comes to Laura Siegemund, it could be the case of being a ‘villain’ who played against an American favorite on her own turf. But with the game getting faster, it won’t be a surprise if the German opts to stick with playing doubles tennis only.