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09-09-2023
NEW YORK: American teenager Coco Gauff shrugged off a disruption from climate protesters to reach the US Open final after beating the Czech Republic’s 10th seed Karolina Muchova.
The semifinal match was delayed by 49 minutes because of a disruption by four environmental activists in the Arthur Ashe Stadium stands on Thursday night.
Officials attempted to remove one of the protesters who glued their bare feet to the concrete floor of the arena. The four protesters were later taken into police custody.
When play resumed, sixth seed Gauff closed out a hard-fought second set to advance to the second Grand Slam final of her career, winning 6-4, 7-5.
“I always speak about preaching about what you feel and what you believe in. It was done in a peaceful way, so I can’t get too mad at it,” the 19-year-old from Florida said in her post-match interview.
“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.
“Would I prefer it not happening in my match, 100 percent, yeah,” she added. “I’m not going to sit here and lie.”
Security guards and police officers confronted the protesters who wore shirts that read, “End Fossil Fuels”. The US Tennis Association said three of the demonstrators were escorted out of the stadium without further incident, but it took longer to remove the person who stuck his feet to the ground.
Police and medical personnel were needed in order to safely remove the glued person. All four activists were taken into police custody. Extinction Rebellion said it was responsible for the protest.
One of the protesters, who identified himself only as Ian, told The Associated Press the US Open has sponsorship deals with corporations whose policies are contributing to global warming.
“We are not trying to harm the athletes in any way. We have nothing against the sport,” he said but “we are really trying to draw attention to an issue here that there will be no tennis left for anybody in the world to enjoy.”
Spectators were asked to move away to clear a path for the police, who were cheered by fans sitting near the section where the disruption happened.
It is the latest in a recent series of protests at sporting events and tennis, in particular related to the use of fossil fuels.
At Wimbledon in July, two matches were interrupted when environmental activists jumped out of the stands at Court 18 and scattered orange confetti on the grass. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
