Google News
Karolina Muchova said climate change protestors "obviously changed" the rhythm of her US Open semifinal against Coco Gauff. On Thursday, Muchova was down by a set and she also lost the opening game of the second set. Then, climate activists - who wore "End Fossil Fuels" shirts - interrupted the match.
It was a group of four climate activists and the fourth managed to glue himself to the ground. Since it took a while to safely remove the glued activists, the match ended up being delayed for 49 minutes.
When the match resumed, Gauff ended up beating Muchova 6-4 7-5.
"Yeah, I mean, it happened at Wimbledon, as well. We see it here and there on some occasions. Not just with tennis. It is what it is. I mean, it's obviously changed the rhythm a little bit and, yeah, what can we do about it? People," Muchova said.
Muchova: At first I didn't even notice
Moments after climate change protestors interrupted the match, Muchova didn't even realize what was really happening. After talking to the chair umpire, Muchova realized it could turn in a lengthy delay.
“First of all, I didn’t even notice. I just thought it was, like, fans screaming, cheering. And yeah, I thought it might be fast, but then the supervisor told me it can be five [minutes] or hour, you know. So I’m, like, Okay, so can we leave the court? We were just standing there, and then they told us, yeah, we can leave the court.
So what to wait there for? They didn’t know the situation. Yeah, then I saw the glued guy there! It took some time. Yeah, I just wanted to get off the court and then keep myself little warmed up and, you know, not just to stand there," Muchova said.
When the match resumed, Muchova fought very hard as the Czech saved five match points before going down to Gauff in two sets.