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Coco Gauff says she "believes in climate change" and noted there were no hard feelings on her side toward the group of activists who interrupted her match. On Thursday night, Gauff had a 6-4 1-0 lead over Karolina Muchova in the US Open semifinal when a group of climate change protestors interrupted the match.
The protestors wore shirts that had "End Fossil Fuels" written on it and the fourth protestor glued his feet to the ground. That caused the match to be delayed for 49 minutes.
When Gauff and Muchova resumed the match, the home favorite American went on to complete a 6-4 7-5 win over Muchova and set up a US Open final against Aryna Sabalenka
Gauff on climate change protestors interrupting her match
“I think that throughout history moments like this are definitely defining moments.
I definitely, I believe, you know, in climate change. I don’t really know exactly what, you know, what they were protesting. I know it was about the environment. I 100% believe in that. I think there are things we can do better.
I know the tournaments are doing things to do better for the environment. Would I prefer it not happening in my match? 100%, yeah. I’m not gonna sit here and lie! But it is what it is. I had a feeling it was going to happen this tournament.
It happened in the French Open, it happened in Wimbledon. So, you know, following the trend, it was definitely going to happen here. I just was hoping it wasn’t in my match, and honestly I thought we made it through. But it is what it is.
I think that, you know, the moments like this, yeah, are history-defining moments. Like I said, I prefer it not to happen in my match but I wasn’t pissed at the protesters. I know the stadium was because it just interrupted entertainment.
I always speak about preaching, you know, 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. 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," Gauff said.