The protesters delayed the match for more than 45 minutes. Credit: GETTY IMAGES
The US Open Women's Semi-Final was disrupted nearly an hour after an environmental protester was glued to the floor in the stands at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Game was suspended for one game in the second set of the match between Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova, when three people — two men and one woman — began to shout «end of fossil fuels» from their seats. Although it was a simple form of protest, it proved to be extremely effective and allowed the match to be delayed by a total of 49 minutes.
This was partly due to the slow response of the security service. It took at least two minutes for the guard to approach the group and ask them to leave. They ignored the order and continued to chant, after which one of the members also gestured to his feet to show that he had taken off his shoes. It turned out he was glued to the concrete floor.
Six minutes had passed since the protest began to demand that two of his accomplices were removed from their seats by security, to chants of «throw them out» from a noisy New York crowd.
The woman silently left, escorted by guards, but the man yelled in response to the crowd members who insulted him as the guards dragged him up the stairs.
Another man who was sitting next to the group but did not take part in the chanting was also asked by the guards to leave. All three were detained by the police.
But the remaining protester was there for a long time due to his radical decision to physically stick to the floor.
A total of 12 NYPD officers were called to the scene, three of them knelt at the man's feet and applied what looked like rubbing alcohol to tissue paper to pry his legs off the concrete.
There was confusion in the court and Gauff wondered why the process was taking so long.
«Do they like talking to them or are they going to delete them?» Gauff asked tower umpire Alison Hughes and tournament referee Jake Garner.
She then spoke to her coach Brad Gilbert, saying, “They say they're negotiating like it's a hostage situation. What should I do?”
Gilbert was then heard shouting to Garner, «It's a joke, Jake.»
It became obvious that there would be no quick solution to the problem. and she and Muchova left the court through a tunnel.
Police surrounded a climate change protester. Photo: Shutterstock
The process of peeling off the man's legs was slow, and he was decidedly passive with the cops. At some points, he pointed to his «end of fossil fuels» T-shirt and did not resist the police, who handcuffed him. He also didn't care about the insults he received from the crowd of 23,000, including calling him a «loser», «crazy», and booing him.
During the drama, the USTA released a brief statement: Yorka is fixing problems with the fan. The game will resume as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.»
Thirty-five minutes into the protest, the police finally took the man away and escorted him, handcuffed and barefoot, from the seat and out of the stadium.
The police handcuffed the man. Photo: Shutterstock
Gauff got her bearings when she and Mukhova returned to court. They did a 10-minute warm-up before Gauff finished 6-4 7-5 to reach her first US Open final.
Following this, the USTA released the following statement: «After the first game of the second set in the Gauff-Muchov match, the game was stopped due to the protest of four spectators.
“Three of the four protesters were escorted out of the stadium without further incident. A fourth protester pressed his bare feet to the floor of the seating bowl.
“Due to the nature of this action, it took the NYPD and medical personnel to safely remove this person from the stadium. Four protesters were taken into custody by the NYPD. A total of 49 minutes elapsed before play resumed.»
This incident raises questions about how the man even managed to get the glue into the compound and why it took security to arrive.
It was a predictable scenario. In recent months, environmental activists have been the focus of sporting events, including the Trial of Ashes at Lords and Wimbledon. At Wimbledon, Just Stop Oil protesters disrupted two matches, including one involving UK No. 1 Cathy Boulter, by invading the court and throwing orange confetti and puzzle pieces on the grass. Three people were arrested.
Due to the frequency of such incidents, Gauff said she expected this on the morning of her semi-final. “The craziest thing is that this morning I said to myself: “I bet that there will be a protest against climate change in the finale.” I didn't think it would be in the semi-finals,» she told ESPN after the match.
Coco Gauff reacting to the protesters interrupting the match. Photo: Shutterstock
“Immediately when it happened, I told the judge that it was a protest. And out of court, I was talking to Carolina, and she said: “How did you know so quickly that this was a protest?”
“And I said:“ I don’t know — something this morning said I said, that it was supposed to happen this weekend, but I thought it would be in the final.» And I just took it as a delay due to the rain.
“The only thing that was more difficult was that we had to leave the site. We did not know. The security guard said it could be five minutes, it could be an hour, so we didn't know how to warm up and get ready. I didn't know if there was or not. To be honest, I took it as a delay due to the rain.
“I just felt like something had to happen this weekend because they did it at the French Open, they did it at Wimbledon . I thought, «Nothing has happened at the US Open yet.» I thought, «Well, maybe this trend will continue, that's what I was thinking.»
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