Why did Coco Gauff ask for more from U.S. tennis fans?<\/p>\n
With ranking points on the line, the United Cup is a serious competition for some of the biggest stars in the sport, but it\u2019s also a showcase of tennis\u2019 international appeal. Flags from all the nations involved pack the stands, but the biggest U.S. star of them all would like to see \u201ca little bit more red, white and blue.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like we\u2019re definitely, in the tennis department, the worst,\u201d world No. 4 Coco Gauff said of American tennis fans at events outside the country, during a news conference at the United Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always said I wish our country in other places would show up throughout the world, as we see maybe smaller countries support,\u201d Gauff said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I also think it\u2019s just because our country is good at so many sports, so it\u2019s just hard. I definitely think there are Americans that come out more in Melbourne than necessarily here (Perth), but I would like to see some more Americans in Sydney \u2014 if we make it to Sydney \u2014 than there were last year.\u201d<\/p>\n
The U.S. is playing its round-robin matches in Perth, but will move on to Sydney if it reaches the final stages. Gauff\u2019s comments drew criticism online, some of it unreasonable, from fans in the U.S. who pointed to high travel costs, especially for Australia. But the two-time Grand Slam champion did not appear to be addressing traveling fans, rather Americans already living in tournament cities, which often see diaspora populations from smaller tennis nations pack stands.<\/p>\n
General admission for the United Cup quarterfinal stages costs between $15 and $30 U.S. dollars in Perth, with a base price of just over $30 U.S. dollars in Sydney.<\/p>\n
Gauff then found herself having to respond to the criticism ahead of her round-robin match against J\u00e9ssica Bouzas Maneiro of Spain. \u201cI\u2019m going to clarify because people are dragging this out of context,\u201d Gauff wrote on X.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not expecting people to travel to tournaments to watch us play. But there are many tournaments that we have in America and abroad where Americans are already attending, regardless of who is playing (excluding U.S. Open) where people come and don\u2019t really cheer for their countrymen player. Whereas those from smaller countries come with their colors and flags and it is clear on who they are supporting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just speaking from my perspective. Trust me, I understand the financial aspect of things and know tennis is not accessible for everyone. It was more of a comment for those who are already attending and how I wish they were as passionate as those from other countries more specifically team events. People don\u2019t owe me anything I was just honestly answering a question I was asked and it was simply an observation I noticed about other countries vs. mine that is all. Nevertheless, I am grateful for any support no matter how big or small it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gauff lost her match against the Spaniard, which went as many of her matches did in 2025: a display full of shaky serves and forehands, athleticism, fight and winning a set ugly. From 6-1, 4-1 down, Gauff rallied to win the second set in a tiebreak, but Bouzas Maneiro won the third set 6-0 \u2014 to silence the chants of \u201cUSA\u201d that had been reverberating around the arena.<\/p>\n
What was Taylor Fritz thinking with his celebration?<\/p>\n
Gauff\u2019s compatriot Fritz has not had a great start to the season. After a shock defeat to Argentina\u2019s Sebasti\u00e1n B\u00e1ez, who had never beaten Fritz in five attempts before a 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 win Saturday, he said that he is managing knee tendinopathy, which is limiting his ability to play to his best level.<\/p>\n
But it was Fritz\u2019s celebration during the match against B\u00e1ez, when he broke serve to lead 6-4, 2-0, that drew more attention:<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Taylor-Fritz-Celebration.gif\")
<\/p>\n
Fritz\u2019s gesture, with his right hand low to the ground, is a common feature of NBA games and has broken out into NFL and baseball, regardless of the relative stature of the players involved in a dunk or otherwise humiliating action. The 6-5 Fritz sending a lob over the 5-7 B\u00e1ez is one of the more straightforward examples.<\/p>\n
Fritz received criticism online for the perceived disrespect in the celebration, which again brought up a tennis tension that it cannot seem to shake. The sport wants players to be gladiatorial combatants, doing whatever they can to win and embracing whatever advantage they can to do so. Fritz sending a lob over a much shorter player is an obvious route to that advantage.<\/p>\n
But the sport also seemingly wants players to be nice and polite in the middle of all that combat. Why not accept some spicy celebrations \u2014 Fritz lost the match, after all \u2014 and let the karma fall where it may.<\/p>\n
Why is the off-season ending with so many injured players?<\/p>\n
The return to the match court is a chance to shake off rust, play back into form after the off-season and get match reps in before the Australian Open, which begins Jan. 18.<\/p>\n
Or, according to this off-season, it\u2019s an opportunity to withdraw from tournaments or confirm lingering injuries. To go with Fritz\u2019s chronic right-knee issue, WTA Tour Finals champion Elena Rybakina confirmed that she is \u201cstruggling a bit with my foot\u201d during a news conference at the Brisbane International in Australia. Jo\u00e3o Fonseca withdrew from the Brisbane International with a back injury. Emma Raducanu missed her first United Cup match with an ongoing foot injury.<\/p>\n
In part, this is just a curse of timing for the tournaments being played. With the Australian Open on the horizon, players have a much lower tolerance for risk. They might enter the first major of the season undercooked without a warm-up tournament, but better to enter it at all than to aggravate a problem just prior and have to miss it entirely.<\/p>\n
But the number of players coming off a period of rest and then training with underlying problems is striking, especially at the start of a grueling season that has 11 months to run. And even more striking is how Raducanu (through quotes from the UK\u2019s Tim Henman) and Fritz \u2014 and to an extent Rybakina \u2014 essentially admitted their off-seasons have been spent not getting better at tennis, but trying not to get hurt.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe struggled with her foot for the end of last year. The improvement that she\u2019s made has been fantastic. She\u2019s been practicing in London, really only doing static drills, to be out on the practice court and moving and playing games. She is very close,\u201d Henman said of Raducanu after a 2-1 win over Japan in the round-robin.<\/p>\n
A tale of two Swiss tennis talismans \u2013 and one self-hindrance?<\/p>\n
With one player seeking to build on an impressive comeback and the other entering their farewell year, Switzerland\u2019s United Cup team has taken the competition by storm in the early stages of the round-robin.<\/p>\n
Belinda Bencic, who last year returned to the WTA Tour after giving birth to her first child, played her first matches back on the second tier of women\u2019s tennis. She then stormed toward the top 10. For 2026, she opened her year by beating Italy\u2019s world No. 8 Jasmine Paolini 6-4, 6-3, before partnering with Jakub Paul to defeat the U.S. Open mixed doubles champions, Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, 7-5, 4-6, (10-7) in a thrilling doubles match.<\/p>\n
Paolini beat Bencic 6-1, 6-1 at this stage 12 months ago, and the Swiss said during her news conference that she had \u201ca little bit in my head the last few matches what I did wrong\u201d in the key moments of their latest meeting.<\/p>\n
Before Bencic and Paul\u2019s triumph, 40-year-old Stan Wawrinka opened his last season on the ATP Tour<\/a> with a close-run defeat to Flavio Cobolli. Wawrinka may have succumbed 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(4), but he put on a clinic of how to temper over-exuberance, joysticking Cobolli around the court with side-to-side groundstrokes and short, chipped slices to make life as hard as possible for the Italian.<\/p>\n Cobolli also managed to make it hard for himself. At 5-4, 0-15 up, serving for the first set, a ball fell out of his pocket and he stopped the point, claiming a hindrance \u2014 but a player cannot call a hindrance on themselves.<\/p>\n Drama down under \ud83d\udc40#UnitedCup<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/KDDiyjwruN<\/a><\/p>\n