Children’s behaviour towards Coco Gauff at the US Open was so disrespectful that security had to step in
- American tennis player struggles with her serve
- Children could sense this and inadvertently distract her from her play
- Tennis champion said security should have prevented it
The innocence of youth created scenes today at Flushing Meadows, where a horde of children were turned away from the courthouse by security for an unintentional act of disrespect.
The American star struggled with her serve against compatriot Emma Navarro. Children watching could feel it too, leading to scenes in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
When Coco was down 5-3 in the deciding set and on serve, children began streaming through the hallways carrying giant tennis balls and other US Open merchandise.
They felt the match was almost over and tried to get a good position to get autographs, even though Gauff already had the match on her racket and could still have won against Navarro.
Security had to intervene and direct the children back to their seats so Gauff could concentrate and finish the game.
βCoco is a little upset,β Chris Fowler said in commentary.
‘When the match is coming to an end, the extras have the guys with the big tennis balls come down to sign. This is a signal that they believe this could be over soon.’
Former champion Chris Evert was unimpressed with the children’s behavior and said it seemed as if Gauff was also taken aback.
βThe guards have to prevent that from happening,β she said.
“Coco looks at it, just stares at them and walks out of here. It’s not cool,” Fowler added.
Children began running through the hallways with giant tennis balls as Gauff served in the third set, trying to save the match
The game was stopped and security had to ask the children to return to their seats
Gauff was clearly upset by the disruption and lost the match after struggling with her serve
Unfortunately for Gauff, her service game was broken and the match was over.
It was the latest in a series of early exits in recent weeks, including a third-round exit from the Paris Olympics and first- and second-place finishes in hard-court exhibition tournaments before arriving in New York.
Gauff attributed her struggles to a combination of issues with her technique: “I often go left on my serve, and I’m aware of it, but it’s hard to try not to do it at that moment,” she explained β and in her head, too.
“Sometimes it’s more of an emotional, mental thing, because if I went out on the practice court now, I’d be serving 30 times in a row. I’ve done that before,” Gauff said.
“I think it’s also just a mental hurdle that I have to overcome when the time comes. … But I definitely want to look at other things, because I don’t want to lose these kinds of matches anymore.”
She ultimately made 60 unforced errors, 29 of which were with her forehand.
The 23-year-old Navarro, who also knocked out Gauff in the fourth round at Wimbledon in July, was much more stable on Sunday, although she still made 35 unforced errors.
“It was a bit of a battle of wills. But I’m proud of my effort today,” said Navarro, Gauff’s U.S. teammate at the Paris Games. “I kept going through some tough times.”