After 23-year-old CoCo Vandeweghe pulled off an upset over No. 11 Karolina Pliskova in the second round on Wednesday, it was time to head to the media room. Reporters always ask the basic questions. Then, they tend to see what they can stir up.
At some point in talking to media about the win, the topic turned to the New York Knicks.
It wasn't a complete surprise – Vandeweghe's grandfather, Ernie Vandeweghe, was a Knick. Her uncle, Kiki Vandeweghe, is a former Knick, coach and G.M. and is now the NBA's V.P. of basketball operations. He's the one that drafted Carmelo Anthony to the Denver Nuggets in 2003.
Anthony is now on the Knicks, a.k.a. CoCo's favorite team.
So, CoCo has more than one connection to Melo, in a way. And when asked about the team, she made it clear that she's not impressed with the current star.
"I just feel that Carmelo, he is a bit soft," she said. "And now, this is just my own personal opinion, I think he is soft. I don't think he has a killer instinct in his eyes, at least this last year. And I also think he needs people around him that have that killer instinct, because then that brings it out of you. And with him taking such a high salary, I think that kind of handcuffs the Knicks in being able to get those types of players that are getting big contracts. There's no way around that."
CoCo doesn't just want more for the Knicks. She also wants more for herself. She's currently ranked No. 47 in the world.
"I want to be top 20 this year," she added. "I want to be No. 1 in the world, why not? It's just the kind of mindset I was brought up with."
Later Wednesday, CoCo tweeted that she couldn't believe media was taking her Melo comments so seriously."Love how writers are blowing this out of control!" she wrote, followed by laughing and clapping emojis.
In the press conference, she added something with which most Knicks fans would agree. "I just want one winning season. That would be nice."
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