Thursday night’s US Open semifinal between Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova was delayed for more than 40 minutes early in the second set by a group of environmental protesters in the upper decks of Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The protest confused fans, television commentators and the players themselves, who were trying to understand what the group was protesting and why the game had been delayed for so long. When play stopped, Goff was leading 6-4, 1-0, and both players left the field.
After about a 38-minute delay, the US Open said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the New York City Police Department was “in the process of resolving the fan disturbance.”
The US Open said: “Play will resume as soon as possible.” “Thank you for your patience.”
At approximately 8:50 p.m., approximately 45 minutes late, the players returned to the field to warm up.
“As we witnessed, we had environmental protesters in the log area,” tournament director Stacy Allaster told ESPN in an interview near the court. “There were three. Two were removed. They left quietly. When security got there they found that one of the protesters had taped himself with his bare feet to the cement floor.
Kurt Streeter And Matthew Fetterman Contributed to reports.
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