French Open: Coco Gauff makes most of big stage with gun violence protest after making final

Three years after her memorable run to the fourth round at the All England Club, Gauff broke new ground at Roland Garros. In the biggest match of her young life, she showed tremendous composure to sweep aside Italy’s Martina Trevisan 6-3, 6-1 in one hour and 28 minutes.

Perhaps most impressive about this grounded youngster, though, is her urge to use her status as a leading sportswoman to stand up for causes that she believes in. She first emerged as a passionate activist in the summer of 2020, delivering a moving speech at a Black Lives Matter rally in Florida. Yesterday (Thursday), as both the invasion of Ukraine and the fallout of the Texas school shooting continued, she decided to send out a message to millions of television viewers.

“For me it is important to use the platform that I have, especially since I am in Europe,” Gauff said. “I feel like it’s a problem that has really been going on a lot for years in the US. I know how many people are watching that match and [I can] bring some global attention to what is going on in the US. We definitely need some change and reform.

“For me, it’s kind of close to home. I had some friends that were a part of the Parkland shooting back in 2018 [when 17 students were murdered at a Florida school]. I remember watching that whole experience pretty much firsthand, having friends go through that. Luckily they were able to make it out. I just think it’s crazy. I was 13 when that happened and still nothing has changed.”

On the court, Gauff overcame a grunting row in the early stages, when there was a hint of frustration at the shrieking by her opponent. The rulebook states that “any continual distraction of regular play, such as grunting, shall be dealt with in accordance with the hindrance rule” and the chair umpire, Marijana Veljovic, was quick to issue an informal warning to Trevisan. “Too loud or no?” Gauff asked Veljovic, before adding: “I normally don’t care but when I’m hitting it, she is still screaming.”

Trevisan, 28, did not react too well to the warning, telling Veljovic: “I think I’m all right. I don’t need to change anything.” But there was a reduction in the length of her grunts from this point.

This is a significant breakthrough for Gauff, whose career has been closely followed in tennis circles since she won the junior title here in 2018 at the age of 14. A year younger than the US Open champion Emma Raducanu, Gauff’s progress has been slower but steadier. Victory in the final would propel her into the world’s top ten for the first time after she started the fortnight as No 23.

Tomorrow (Saturday) Gauff faces her toughest test yet, taking on the relentless Iga Swiatek, who claimed her 34th successive win by defeating Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 6-1. The world No 1 from Poland will equal Venus Williams’s 35-match winning streak, the longest by any female player this century, if she claims the title, although she still has some way to go to catch Martina Navratilova’s open-era record of 74.

“Being able to be in the final again is great, especially when I didn’t actually know how I’m going to play here after so many tournaments,” Swiatek, the 2020 champion, said. “It seemed kind of obvious for me that the streak may come to an end soon, so I just wanted to really take it step by step.”

Amelie Mauresmo, the tournament director, came under fire on Thursday after defending the lopsided night-session scheduling – nine men’s matches to one women’s – by telling reporters it was difficult to find a “confrontation or star” to shine the spotlight on. But there is certainly no shortage of attraction and appeal in tomorrow’s (Saturday’s) contest between the best player in the world and a teenager with limitless potential. Unsurprisingly Mauresmo has eventually shown contrition in the form of an apology that was broadcast on the Tennis Channel yesterday (Thursday).

“I want to say sorry to the players that really felt bad about what I said,” Mauresmo, a former world No 1 and Wimbledon champion, said. “I think the people who’ve known me on and off the court, throughout my career, throughout everything that I’ve done, know that I’m a big fighter for equal rights and women’s tennis.

“Concerning the scheduling, because we have one match only, it’s really tough to schedule a woman’s match because we have to take into consideration the length. I feel that next year, to be more fair to the women players as well as to both categories, actually, it would be good to maybe have the possibility to put two matches on or maybe a women’s match plus a doubles match.”

–The Times

Originally published as French Open: Coco Gauff makes most of big stage with gun violence protest after making final