A group of protesters caused Coco Gauff's semifinal US Open tennis match to be delayed on Thursday, September 7, 2023. The U.S. Tennis Association said that the match was delayed by 49 minutes due to four protesters wearing "End Fossil Fuels" T-shirts. "Three of the four protesters were escorted out of the stadium without further incident. The fourth protester affixed their bare feet to the floor of the seating bowl," the U.S. Tennis Association said in a statement.
Coco Gauff wasn't exactly thrilled by the timing of their protest, but she also wasn't super bothered by it.
Gauff acknowledged that some fans were upset by the delay and she would "prefer [the protest] not happen" at the time of her match, but she was also somewhat supportive of the protesters.
"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," she said during the press conference following the match.
Eventually, Gauff went on to win the match, which means she will play in the US Open finals for the first time at age 19.
"I just treated it like a rain delay," Gauff said of the interruption. "We had to leave the court and didn't know how long it would be, five minutes or an hour. It was tough to figure out if we stay warm or conserve energy. After, like, 10 minutes of waiting, I decided to change my clothes and eat a bar."
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Coco Gauff will be competing against Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus on Saturday, September 9.
