CoCo Vandeweghe provides ESPN with 1st-ever mid-match interview

Though spectators have grown accustomed to - perhaps even tired of - mid-game interviews with players and coaches in most sports, no pro tennis broadcast had ever seen a player answer a reporter's questions in the middle of a match.

Until Monday.

After winning the first set of her first-round US Open match against fellow American Sloane Stephens, world No. 45 CoCo Vandeweghe gave ESPN's Pam Shriver a brief interview - the first of its kind.

This year, ESPN acquired exclusive domestic broadcast rights for the US Open and US Open Series, a deal that runs through 2025. The mid-match interview was a joint ESPN/USTA initiative, an ESPN spokesman told For the Win's Chris Chase:

Both parties wanted to bring new wrinkles to its coverage and agreed that interviewing players mid-match would be an innovation to benefit fans. The decision is made before the match and a player can back out up until the beginning of the interview.

The "new wrinkle" came as a shock to some.

While others felt it was a long time coming.

For her part, Vandeweghe didn't see what any of the fuss was about.

"In general, I'm a sports fan," she told Shriver after the match, which she won in straight sets. "For anyone to have an insight into an athlete's mind is a positive. I'm glad ESPN was open to the idea."

Vandeweghe could meet Serena Williams in Round 3.