Coco Gauff, with a Charged Crowd On Her Side, Kicks off U.S. Open with A Tense Win [Video]

What Gauff meant was the pace of Siegemund, a 35-year-old qualifier from Germany who took her sweet time between points and never seemed ready to play when the 19-year-old from Florida was. The sixth-seeded Gauff also could have been referring to her own start to the match, one she eventually turned around and won 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 to reach the second round at Flushing Meadows.

“I was really patient the whole match. She was going over the time since the first set. I never said anything. I would look at the umpire, and she didn’t do anything,” said Gauff, who got into a lengthy discussion with official Marijana Veljovic in the third set. “Then obviously the crowd started to notice that she was taking long, so you would hear people in the crowd yelling, ‘Time!’”

In the day’s last match, 23-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic made his return to the U.S. Open a swift one, defeating Alexandre Muller 6-0, 6-2, 6-3. Djokovic couldn’t travel to the United States last year because he wasn’t vaccinated against COVID-19.

Siegemund, whose faults drew applause and whose own back-and-forth with Veljovic drew jeers, cried during her post-match news conference, saying the fans “had no respect for me.”

“I am very, very disappointed (by) the way the people treated me today,” said Siegemund, who has won U.S. Open titles in women’s doubles and mixed doubles. “This is something that I have to say hurts really bad. There is no doubt that I’m slow. … I should be quicker. But at the same time, it’s how I play.”

Added Siegemund: “They treated me like I was a bad person.”

With former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, in the audience, Siegemund outplayed Gauff for the first set, using all manner of slices and superb volleying.

Gauff had lost her past two Grand Slam matches — including a first-round exit at Wimbledon last month — and did not want to leave quietly or quickly this time. With thousands of partisan fans getting rowdier by the moment, she converted her eighth break point in a 30-point, 25-plus-minute game to begin the second set.

In the end, she held on, and it was Gauff’s 12th victory in 13 matches since the disappointing showing at the All England Club. This recent run includes the two biggest titles of the American’s career and a win over No. 1 Iga Swiatek.