French Open: Who Is Sofia Kenin’s R1 Opponent? Everything to Know About the German WTA Star and Her TIFF Against Coco Gauff Last Year

Laura Siegemund is geared up to kick off her French Open campaign with a bang! After making it to the Morocco Open quarterfinals, world no. 78 will be in strong shape going into the French Open. She will be playing Sofia Kenin in the opening round, but it’s worth noting her history with first-round matches, particularly her memorable encounter against Coco Gauff.

Even though Siegemund has a well-known doubles career, her accomplishments in singles are equally noteworthy. August of 2016 saw her achieve a career-high singles ranking of world No. 27. She has won two WTA titles, the Swedish Open in 2016 and the Stuttgart Open in 2017. Siegemund’s best Grand Slam singles performance came from a quarterfinal showing at the French Open in 2020.

She also competed in the Summer Olympics in 2016 and advanced to the quarterfinals. Since 2017, she has represented Germany in the Billie Jean King Cup. However, last year marked a turning point for her career. When the 36-year-old tennis player faced Coco Gauff in the US Open’s first round, there was a significant controversy around her.

Despite the turmoil, she made history at the Poland Open, when she advanced to her first WTA Tour singles final in more than six years before falling to world No. 1 Iga Swiatek. A tense match at Arthur Ashe Stadium last year lasted over three hours. The third seed became increasingly irritated with Siegemund for his lengthy points between possessions.

At first, the German’s stalling strategies were successful; but the shot clock repeatedly reached zero as she repeatedly forced Gauff to wait on her own serve. In addition, the 36-year-old tennis star raised her hand when the young American was up 3-0 in the third set, forcing the American to serve again and causing her to angrily confront Marijana Veljovic, the umpire.

Later in the set, Siegemund was given a second-time violation and a point penalty, suggesting that Gauff’s arguments were persuasive. Siegemund declined to shake hands with Veljovic as she walked out of the court. But it seemed that Siegemund’s perceived slower play, letting the shot clock run out, was frustrating both to Gauff and most of the spectators.

Coco Gauff was left frustrated with Laura Siegemund’s US Open tactics 

In an interview after the match, the third-ranked player talked about how the situation went beyond her enduring level, leaving her frustrated. She said, “I think that was the situation [at which] I was getting frustrated. I felt like the rules were being bent. That’s why a lot of players get mad when these time violations are called because one ref is letting them go over, the other is more strict on the time.” I think tennis needs to be more strict on the rules for everybody regardless of every situation.”

On the other hand, however, last year, the 20-year-old American started off her US Open journey with controversy, winning the event and creating history under her name with her first Grand Slam title. While the controversy gained a lot of popularity for the German tennis player, it will be interesting to see what this year’s French Open will bring for her.

What do you think about the 36-year-old tennis player’s first-round clash against Kenin? Will she find a successful beginning to her campaign? Do let us know in the comment section below.