Coco Gauff Mania has cost one player her
Wimbledon mixed doubles partner.
British
tennis star
Harriet Dart said her playing partner
Jay Clarke texted to let her know that he would instead be playing with Gauff, the 15-year-old American who has taken the grass courts by storm with upsets over
Venus Williams and
Magdalena Rybarikova.
“Essentially, due to the timing, I wasn’t able to find another partner in the time period available,” Dart told the Daily Mail of the event that started Thursday. “I did ask a number of people, but a lot of them were set up and that’s it. I think you should ask Jay about his reasons, that’s all I want to say.”
Clarke said that Gauff reached out to him to see if they could play together.
“I’ve known Cori for a few years now, we got in contact, and she asked me to play,” Clarke, who lost to Roger Federer in singles on Thursday, told reporters.
“That was tough. I had to let her know because I saw the pairs that had signed in, and I was thinking, ‘Am I even going to get in?’ I think it’s the worst decision I have had to make, especially mid-tournament. I didn’t sleep too well the night before I played Noah [Rubin in a first-round singles match], but hopefully she understands why I did it. I’m sorry for her it happened.”
Dart, 22, is also into the third round of the women’s singles draw and will face No. 1 Ash Barty next. She is trying to put the unique situation behind her.
“I spoke about it (Wednesday) I’d really just like to talk about my match (Thursday),” Dart said. “I think that’s in the past. Yeah, I think just got to look forward. I’m just concentrating on my singles. I think some things you can’t control. Just got to focus on the task in hand. That’s playing singles. That’s all I’m really worried about.”