CoCo goes loco in fruitless quest
CoCo Vandeweghe's petulant standoff over a shortage of bananas was the low point on a horror day for the United States at the Australian Open yesterday.
The 10th seed was given two code violations during her stormy 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 defeat by Hungarian Timea Babos at the Hisense Arena.
The first came after she refused to restart play at the end of the first set until a ball-kid delivered her bananas.
"How are they not on court? I mean, c'mon, that's not my fault," she said during an argument with the chair umpire.
"Why do I have to play under a different set of rules? I don't have to make myself uncomfortable because it's ill-prepared."
I think all the week it was so great learning from him on the court or off the court.Switzerland's Belinda Bencic, who defeated fifth seed Venus Williams yesterday, on learning from compatriot Roger Federer during the Hopman Cup earlier this month.
The 26-year-old was docked a point towards the end of the second set after appearing to curse at 51st-ranked Babos.
Vandeweghe said she was unhappy about Babos getting "in her face" but the Hungarian denied trying to rile her up.
"She always does that (loses her temper)," Babos said. "A couple of rackets are broken every match, this time it was I believe a time violation... The second one I believe was an insult against me.
"If the umpire heard it, then it must have been this."
Vandeweghe was the third of four American women who made last year's US Open semi-finals to fall at the first hurdle in Melbourne. The fourth, Madison Keys, begins her campaign against China's Wang Qiang today. - REUTERS
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