The announcement that Meghan Markle would be present at the US Open Women’s final between Bianca Andreescu and Serena Williams initially got mixed responses, with some praising the duchess for attending, while others looked at the situation from a more critical perspective.
Namely, the coach for Serena, Patrick Mouratoglou, had reportedly expressed concerns that the presence of Meghan at the final could serve as a significant distraction, and would likely draw attention away from the actual main event — the game itself.
The statements were met with mixed responses, and it looks like some did agree with the fact that this was a worrying notion, but others had been more relaxed about the situation, pointing out that the actual action would still happen down at the court and not in the audience’s seats.
A source said before the game: “Serena asked her coach about Meghan coming when she won Thursday night, and everyone is worried, as tennis players are very superstitious, and Serena lost when Meghan came to watch her at Wimbledon.”
She added: “[Williams’ coach] Patrick [Mouratoglou] keeps telling her, ‘Focus focus focus.’ The aim is getting her to win her 24th Grand Slam.”
Another insider explained: “Serena adores Meghan and she’s so excited about her coming to the Open.”
The coach had tried to stop the controversy by sharing: “Not at all. There will be 22,000 people in the stadium, 23,000, actually. One more or less won’t change a thing.”
Still, Serena herself is a big fan of Meghan and wanted to see her at the event.
She was seemingly not that worried about any possible repercussions on the audience’s attention.
Entirely, on the contrary, she appeared to agree with the notion expressed by some that the arrival of Meghan was going to be a positive thing.
Meghan’s presence at such events has been controversial so far, especially after she instilled a ban on all photos at Wimbledon due to her presence.
She is quite fond of her privacy, which is fine, but she has also been affecting the enjoyment of others and has been getting a lot of criticism as a result of that.
Despite her low-key attitude this time around, Meghan could not stop Serena from losing against tennis’ rising star in two sets.
