By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday August 28, 2023
After a heavily contested battle last night, one in which tempers flared and the crowd got involved, Germany’s Laura Seigemund gave a teary press conference and aired out her frustration with the way she was treated by the crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Back story: Coco Gauff notched a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 win, claiming victory in a two hour and 51-minute tussle that was marked by drama over Siegemund’s slow play and Gauff’s interaction with umpire Marijana Veljovic on her perceived transgressions.
Siegemund, who was given one time violation and also docked a point penalty during the clash, said the following, regarding the crowd’s treatment of her.
“They treated me like I was a bad person,” she said. “I’m 35. What do I play tennis for? I make good money, I’m not gonna probably reach my best ranking anymore – not in singles. I play out there for the people. I play for the effort. I can still play, my body is giving me the chance to play a little bit more and I know there are fans out there that appreciate fighting and not giving up, and just good sport.”
“They treated me bad, and they treated me like I was a cheater, like I was trying sneaky ways to win this match – they treated me like I was a bad person. I was just slow, that’s something in the rule, I get my time violation and that’s fine.”
Gauff explained her side as such:
“I was really patient the whole match. 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,” she said. “Then obviously the crowd started to notice that she was taking long, so you would hear people in the crowd yelling.”
The 19-year-old American vented her frustration during the match to Veljovic, and was happy when Siegemund was docked.
“I was finally happy when the time violation came,” she said. “But obviously on my serve, I was like, She has to be ready when I'm serving. I'm not a fast server, but obviously when you're calling the score eight seconds later, it looks like I'm serving 24 on the clock. Usually I look at the clock and try to serve around the 14-, 15-second mark.”
But she didn’t necessarily condone the negative treatment of Siegemund by the crowd.
“When it came to, cheering between serves, I did try my best to deescalate -- there's not much I can do while she's serving -- deescalate the situation,” she said. “But when it came to the time violation, at that point it's sports, it's New York City, I'm not going to try to calm that down.”