Coco Gauff’s former coach stunned by what US Open fans did after her match with Elena Rybakina, ‘I was really shocked’

Coco Gauff was unable to take advantage of the fan support she had against Elena Rybakina.

Gauff was beaten by Rybakina in the US Open semi-finals, despite winning the first set of their match.

This was in spite of the loud crowd support the American received, as Rybakina commented on Gauff's fanbase after winning the match.

Gauff's former coach, Brad Gilbert , has also reacted to this, calling out some of the US Open fans for being disrespectful to Rybakina after the match.

Brad Gilbert criticises US Open fans for what they did after Coco Gauff's loss to Elena Rybakina

As with all matches on show courts like Arthur Ashe Stadium, the winning player conducts a post-match interview.

This was the case again for Rybakina, but there were very few fans still in the stadium as she spoke about the match, as many had left after she beat Gauff.

Gilbert and WTA player Ajla Tomljanovic spoke about this on The Big T Podcast , calling it both disrespectful and shocking.

Gilbert: "Can we give a yellow card to the crowd?

Gilbert: "Even though it was 99.9 for Coco, which was great, but by the time that she got to the microphone. From match point, how long do you think it was before she got to the microphone? 90 seconds."

Tomljanovic: "It's never really more than two minutes. She probably wanted to get out of there, she probably didn't take too long. And to see people leave, it's just a bit disrespectful."

Gilbert: "By the time the interview was over, the stadium was empty. It was like everyone's got a train to catch or whatever, it was like come on give her a little respect. It was a little odd how much of a mass exodus, obviously they were pretty bummed because both Americans lost, but it was only 11 o'clock at night, it wasn't three o'clock in the morning. I was really shocked."

Tomljanovic: "Especially as that's the new number one, the disrespect was a little too loud for me. And Coco herself said in her post-match interview that the crowd was 99.9% for her. You never see an American say it is that much for her, even though we all know it was."

Brad Gilbert explains what went wrong for Coco Gauff vs Elena Rybakina

Gilbert, who helped Gauff win her first Grand Slam title at the US Open in 2023, also spoke about the match itself.

Gauff was able to keep new world number one Rybakina at bay during the first set, but Gilbert highlighted the issues she was having with her forehand in the second and third sets, which her opponent took advantage of.

"I felt like in the first set, she [Rybakina] was pretty even when they showed the ball chart between going to forehand and backhand," said Gilbert. "But she was trying to force. When Coco gets forced, she gets the wheels going, she can redirect and she gets a lot more racket head speed.

"It looked like in the second and third set, a ton of balls were going down the middle and to the forehand hip where Coco then struggles with some racket head speed and she gave a lot of unforced errors. You know when she's starting to get a little bit not confident, she starts chipping the forehand a little bit.

"So I did feel like that adjustment came. I wonder if that came from her [Rybakina's] coach or was something that she saw and something that she picked up a lot. She didn't win a lot of free points on her serve in the first set and I thought the serve was much more accurate in the second and third set."

Rybakina had never been past the fourth round of the US Open before, but she is now just one win away from her third Grand Slam title.

In the women's singles final, Rybakina will play Aryna Sabalenka , who is hoping to win her third consecutive US Open title this year.