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Andy Roddick Explains How Coco Gauff’s 52-Minute Steamrolling Saved Miami Open From Losing Millions

Published 03/27/2024, 6:33 AM EDT

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Weather conditions have played a major role in this year’s Miami Open. Incessant rainfalls throughout the tournament have disrupted several matches. A few days ago, Coco Gauff was seen absolutely frustrated with the tournament organizers for giving players ‘unrealistic’ times to restart their matches.

Recently, Andy Roddick also spoke about the Miami Open rain policy during a conversation with Jon Wertheim on the ‘Served with Andy Roddick’ podcast. He revealed how despite having so many complaints, Coco Gauff saved the day for James Blake by snapping a 52-minute victory in her first match of the 2024 Miami Open.

Andy Roddick reveals one of his ‘favorite things’ from a recent match in Miami Open

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During the conversation, Roddick said, “One of my favorite things is that I’m watching the other night. And the radar just looks like you should give up on the day.” He said that the weather conditions that day were so terrible that almost everyone gave up their hopes of having a full match. Then he added, “What people don’t understand is like if they get a match played there are no refunds.” 

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However, Gauff finished that match in the blink of an eye, defeating Argentina’s Nadia Podoroska by 6-1,6-2. Perhaps this might have brought a sign of relief for Blake.

James Blake has been the tournament director of the Miami Open since 2018. And here’s what Roddick said while elaborating on how Gauff saved the tournament director. “That day so Coco came in and got through a match in about 52 minutes. Saved the day. Saved James Blake for the day,” said Roddick. These disruptions caused during the match made the players unable to get on the court and fulfill their fixtures.

Coco Gauff was supposed to take on Podoroska at 11 am local time. But she was made to wait until 5 pm. She was made to sit all day at the venue. Coco Gauff felt the expected times that were given by the tournament organisers for the game to resume were absolutely unfeasible looking at the weather conditions at that time. She lashed out at the Miami Open and here’s what she said about that.

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‘Felt a little bit weird’ – Coco Gauff on strange timings given by the tournament organizers 

Coco Gauff said she came at her normal time as per the schedule and she knew immediately that it was going to rain. So, she shortened her warmup sessions before the match and did a few hits in the morning. Elaborating on that incident she jokingly said, “Don’t know if that made a difference because we played so much later.” 

She then further went on to add, “Yeah, I was just waiting around, talked to some folks, played some games, read. It felt like a long wait. I was kind of not sure when to eat. Also, the tournament was giving us unrealistic ‘not before’ times, so that felt a little bit weird, too.” No player likes to get disruptions during their matches.

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But thankfully for Coco Gauff, she managed to get a victory in such a short amount of time. Share your thoughts on how these frequent stoppages in the game can cause a major problem for a player to find momentum in the game.

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Written by:

Sayantan Roy

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Sayantan Roy is a Tennis Writer at EssentiallySports, who crafts tennis tales that not only capture the game's essence but also reflect his creative genius. As a believer in unbiased journalism, Sayantan, a fan of both Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, loves to fuse the world of such tennis rivals and present balanced copies as fan reaction pieces. Engaged in sports since college, he brings that passion to life.
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Edited by:

Shudh Mukherjee