Struggling Coco Gauff's US Open match disrupted by 'rude' children prompting security to step in

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Tennis star Coco Gauff's match against Emma Navarro in the US Open championship was disrupted by the behavior of a group of young fans.

Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City witnessed how a group of children managed to bring down the concentration of a star player at the women's singles fourth-round match on Sunday, September 1.

As the 2023 US Open champion prepared to serve that could decide the set when she was down 5-3, a group of children started flooding down the stairs with huge tennis balls and other merchandise, as per Daily Mail.

With the match nearing its end, they moved close to the match ground to get autographs, though Gauff could have still defeated her fellow US opponent Navarro. This prompted the security to step up and return the children to their seats so Gauff could finish the match.

Children's actions during Coco Gauff's match irks commentators

Commentators Chris Fowler and Chris Evert were not impressed by the children's disrespectful conduct, which eventually cost Coco Gauff her championship reign.

"Coco's a little unnerved," Fowler said.

"When you're at the end of a match, the extras will let the kids come down with the giant tennis balls to sign, a signal that they believe this could end soon," he added.

Former champion Evert also chimed in on the happenings at the Flushing Meadows, saying, "The guards should prevent that from happening."

"Coco checks it out, just kind of stares them down, and walks off the line here. It's not cool," Fowler noted.

The 20-year-old Gauffe exited the 2024 US Open championship, where she was beaten by No 13 seed Emma Navarro after she failed to repeat her magic on the racket. Her early exits from the US Open came after a third-round loss at the Paris Olympics.

Coco Gauff attributed her defeat to a 'mental hurdle'

After bowing out of the championship, Coco Gauffe noted that her failure was due to a mental hurdle but also attributed it to her mechanics.

The Grand Slam winner pointed out that she was aware of her going to the left side more but tried to avoid it.

"It's sometimes more of an emotional, mental thing, because if I go out on the practice court right now, I would make, like, 30 serves in a row. I've done it before," the player added.

"I think it's also just kind of a mental hurdle that I have to get over when it comes. ... But I definitely want to look at other things, because I don't want to lose matches like this anymore."

Gauff made 60 unforced errors, out of which 29 were on her forehand side. Her opponent, the 23-year-old Navarro, made 35 unforced errors.

Internet calls out parents of the children who disrupted Coco Gauff's match

Deeming the children's behavior towards Coco Gauff as "disrespectful," netizens claimed that the parents should have paid more attention and managed the youngsters.

"Children behaviour what the what , raise your kids sensibly guys, " a user said.

"No different to Dimitrov Vs ruble Actually this isn't exactly new, the way kids and their parents urge their kids to get in front for autographs and pictures," another added.

"Gonna probably get blasted for this but I guarantee at least 40% of those kids were promoted by their parents to get an autograph so they can sell them. You see it a lot in soccer with players kits. These adults use their kids to get memorabilia to sell. It’s disgusting," one user said.

"That's just rude where are the parents??" read a response.

"So Disrespectful; Those Ushers who let them down need not let this happen again," someone else remarked.

"Disrespectful..Kids dont know..yet should. .Parents Do Better," an individual wrote.

"This is incredibly annoying and why did security let them down there to begin with??" another user asked.

"Crazy disrespect," read one remark.

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