A gala poster disrupted by activists in the stands. Environmental activists interrupted the first US Open women’s semi-final between Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova for fifty minutes on Thursday, September 7 in New York.
As the players were about to start the second game of the second set, three people stood up in the upper part of the stands of the huge Arthur-Ashe court and chanted “End fossil fuels”. The referee preferred to interrupt the game and, while the public repeatedly shouted “get them out” towards the activists, Gauff and Muchova were allowed to leave the court and return to the locker room while they settled. the situation.
At the time of the interruption, Gauff led 6-4, 1-0. Upon intervention by the police, two of the activists left peacefully, but the third stuck his bare feet to the ground. The police took several minutes to unstick him before taking him out, his hands handcuffed behind his back.
The American, 6th in the world at 19, finally qualified for her first US Open final by beating the Czech 6-4, 7-5. Coco Gauff, who has already played a final at Roland-Garros in 2022, will face Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (2nd) or fellow American Madison Keys (17th) on Saturday to try to win her first grand slam title. She had never made it past the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows.