US Open star Coco Gauff shares sympathy with Ostapenko as scheduling row erupts
After struggling a one-sided defeat to the sixth seed, Ostapenko claimed that US Open organisers advised her she can be taking part in within the night time session for her quarter-final. The 26-year-old stated the communication got here after she upset world No 1 Iga Swiatek on Sunday night time, although match bosses allegedly went again on their phrase.
“When I saw the schedule I was a little bit surprised, not in a really good way,” the 2017 French Open champion stated. And Gauff has now proven her sympathy for her opponent after coping with related scheduling difficulties.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s definitely a valid thing,” the 19-year-old began. “I remember in Montreal I had to play Marketa [Vondrousova], and we finished around 11:00 and then played the next day at like 1:00 or 2:00. Luckily the match before us went long but I still am at the site and everything.”
While gamers at Grand Slams profit from a day in between matches, Gauff knew that usually wasn’t sufficient. She continued: “I do think with a day in between it does help a little bit. But also, I mean, I don’t know, the Grand Slam tournaments are tough. She had to play the second night match. I don’t know what time she practiced the next day, but it’s definitely a different feeling.
“I mean, I had doubles yesterday, and I have doubles tomorrow. So I get the feeling in the way of playing back to back to back. Yeah, honestly, yesterday was a concern of mine when I found I was playing first, hoping that, you know, it was unfortunate Jess lost, but she lost fast, and then obviously they put us on Ashe so we didn’t have to worry about the rain or anything.”
Ostapenko had additionally defined that she didn’t really feel drained bodily however that she wasn’t given sufficient time to get well. And Gauff understood that the schedule would take a psychological toll.
“Yeah, it definitely plays a factor, maybe more so mentally than physically, because I think physically you have the day in between but mentally these days go by so fast. I definitely can understand that point of view, for sure,” she added.
Temperatures additionally reached round 35 levels on Arthur Ashe Stadium court docket on Tuesday, although Gauff wasn’t positive whether or not the warmth performed an excessive amount of of a component within the 68-minute match.
“I don’t know if the heat really played a factor or not, because the match was, you know, short. I do think if it was a longer match, I think it would have favored me even more. But yeah, I definitely could tell that she was a little bit frustrated with her performance today,” she stated.