- The American tennis star has been having trouble with his serve.
- The kids could sense that and would accidentally take her out of the game.
- The tennis champion said security should have prevented it
The innocence of youth created scenes at Flushing Meadows today, with a horde of children ordered off the pitch by security for an unintentional act of disrespect.
The American star was having trouble with her serve against compatriot Emma Navarro. Children watching also noticed it, leading to scenes at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
With Coco down 5-3 in the deciding set and serving, children began parading through the aisles with giant tennis balls and other US Open merchandise.
They sensed the match was nearly over and were moving into prime position to get autographs, even though Gauff had the match on her racket and could still have won against Navarro.
Security had to intervene and escort the children back to their seats to allow Gauff to concentrate and complete the match.
“Coco is a little nervous,” Chris Fowler said on commentary.
‘When the game comes to an end, the extras will let the kids come down with the giant tennis balls to sign, a sign that they think this might be over soon.’
Former champion Chris Evert was not impressed with the children’s actions and said Gauff also seemed puzzled.
“Guards should prevent that from happening,” he said.
“Coco looks at them, stares at them and walks out of line. It’s not right,” Fowler added.
Children began parading through the hallways with giant tennis balls as Gauff was serving 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 bewildered by the interruption and ended up losing the match after struggling with her serve.
Unfortunately for Gauff, her serve was broken and the match was over.
It was the latest in a series of early exits for her in recent weeks, including her third-round exit at the Paris Olympics and then her 1-2 record in hard-court tuneup events heading into New York.
Gauff attributed her struggles to a mix of issues with her mechanics – ‘I lean a lot to my left side on my serve, and it’s something I’m aware of, but it’s hard in the moment, I guess, to try not to do it,’ she explained – and in her mind.
“Sometimes it’s more of an emotional thing, a mental thing, because if I go out on the practice court right now, I’d serve like 30 times in a row. I’ve done that before,” Gauff said.
“I think it’s also kind of 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 any more games like this.”
She finished with a total of 60 unforced errors, of which 29 were on her forehand.
Navarro, 23, who also eliminated Gauff in the fourth round at Wimbledon in July, was much firmer on Sunday, although she still had 35 unforced errors.
“It was a battle of wills for a while, but I’m proud of the effort I put in today,” said Navarro, Gauff’s teammate at the Paris Games. “I was able to hold on through some tough moments.”