One of the most recent controversial moments in professional tennis happened in the US Open on Tuesday, August 29, in a match between Germany’s 35-year-old Laura Siegemund and America’s 19-year-old Coco Gauff, and the controversy has divided opinion.
Here is an unbiased look at exactly what happened before we reveal whether Laura Siegemund was in the wrong against her opponent, Coco Gauff.
First off, is there still time to bet on upcoming WTA and ATP tennis matches?
Yes. The official 32red sport website is one of the world’s most trusted sports betting sites and is known for having the iGaming industry’s most competitive tennis betting odds. Some of the biggest tennis events still to come in 2023 are the following:
- 2023 Laver Cup Vancouver. When: September 22-24. Where: Rogers Arena, Vancouver, Canada. This is a men’s event featuring Team Europe Vs. Team World
- 2023 Billie Jean King Cup finals. When: November 7-12. Where: Seville, Spain. This is a women’s tennis team tourney
The United Cup in Australia (Brisbane, Sydney, and Perth) will run from December 29 to January 8. In Tokyo, Japan, from October 16 to 22, it’s the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships (ATP 500), and from September 28 to October 4, you have the China Open in Beijing (ATP 500).
Why was Coco Gauff angry with Laura Siegemund?
Teen tennis sensation Coco Gauff became angry with Siegemund’s tactics of holding up Gauff in between serves during the match. She vented her frustrations at the umpire, who seemed oblivious to what was going on and did nothing to stop Siegemund’s annoying time-wasting tactics.
Some people who haven’t even watched the match have said that it was just petulant teenage behaviour from Gauff, but most of those who have watched the match in person or on television were on Gauff’s side and agree that what Siegemund was doing was wrong.
On several occasions, Gauff, who is always quick to get the next serve in, had to wait for prolonged periods of time before she could serve because Siegemund was taking her time to approach the service area or even acknowledge Gauff was about to serve.
This would annoy just about any tennis player in the world if it happened just once, but for it to happen several times in the same game was even more frustrating for Gauff and unsportsmanlike play from Siegemund.
The worst thing for Gauff was that she was not being protected by the umpire as she should have been, especially when these tactics were employed at crucial parts of the match.
Even the crowd in attendance were clearly on Coco Gauff’s side and were cheering/applauding her when she was venting her frustrations at the umpire.
They could also clearly see what was happening, which annoyed them, so why didn’t the umpire see? Better still, despite the tactics employed by Siegemund, Gauff went on to win the match at the Arthur Ashe Stadium 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.
Women’s Tennis WTA Rankings 2023
Currently ranked at number one on the official Women’s Tennis WTA Rankings 2023 is Poland’s Iga Swiatek (age 22), with an incredible 9,955 points. Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (25) is currently in second place with 8,746 points, and then in third place with 5,945 points is America’s Jessica Pegula (29).
Coco Gauff is also riding high on the official singles rankings board (6) with 4,595 points. After losing to Coco Gauff on August 29, Laura Siegemund dropped 13 places and is now in 121st with 601 points.
Aryna Sabalenka is the odds-on favourite to win the upcoming US Open final at 2/1, and Coco Gauff is the bookies’ second odds-on favourite to win the tournament outright at 12/5.
In other words, Sabalenka has a 33.30% implied probability rate of winning, and Gauff has a slightly lower 22.90% chance of winning.