Moments after beating Jelena Ostapenko in their quarter-final clash, Coco Gauff reinforced Ostapenko's claims of the US Open scheduling being unideal at times.
Coco Gauff looked in very good form in her comprehensive straight-sets victory over Ostapenko. The American was doing a good job at opportunistically stepping in and dictating with her better backhand, counter-punched effectively to draw the inevitable sea of errors from Ostapenko, and she had the necessary defensive toolset to really cause issues on the day.
Despite being in the heat of battle on Arthur Ashe Stadium, Coco Gauff supported a lot of the words that Ostapenko delivered after their contest. Ostapenko pointed out the flaws and drawbacks to some of the US Open scheduling that she felt played a part in working against her in this particular defeat. Gauff could see her point of view, too.
"Yeah, I mean, it is definitely a valid thing. I remember in Montreal I had to play Marketa, and we finished around 11:00 and then played the next day at 1:00 or 2:00. Luckily the match before us went long but I am still at the site and everything. Ostapenko had to play the second night match. I don't know what time she practiced the next day, but it is definitely a different feeling. Yeah it definitely plays a factor, maybe more so mentally than physically, because physically you have the day in between but mentally these days go by fast."
Gauff tried to compare Ostapenko's circumstances with herself. She noted that growing accustomed to playing consistent singles alongside double matches enables her to be better prepared, especially considering she goes deep in a lot of those events.
"I mean, I had doubles yesterday and I have doubles tomorrow. So I get the feeling in the way of playing back to back to back. Yeah, honestly, yesterday was a concern of mine when I found out I was playing first.
Gauff continues her quest for a first major singles title, and is now just the two match wins away from making that achievement happen.
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