{"id":389567,"date":"2026-01-05T18:03:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T18:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/389567\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T18:03:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T18:03:07","slug":"coco-gauff-clarifies-comments-on-american-tennis-fans-before-surprising-loss-chicago-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/389567\/","title":{"rendered":"Coco Gauff clarifies comments on American tennis fans before surprising loss \u2013 Chicago Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

PERTH, Australia \u2014 Coco Gauff dropped a post on social media just before she started her United Cup singles match Monday, hoping to add context to her recent comments about American tennis fans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The match didn\u2019t go well for the No. 4-ranked Guaff, who lost the first five games and struggled in a 6-1, 6-7 (3), 6-0 loss to No. 42 Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in Perth.<\/p>\n

It gave Spain a 1-0 lead over the defending champion U.S. team in the Group A contest. But then Taylor Fritz saved a match point on the way to winning the men\u2019s singles match and Gauff combined with Christian Harrison in the mixed doubles to clinch victory for the Americans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2018m going to clarify because people are dragging this out of context,\u201d Gauff said in the pre-match morning social media post, referring to the \u201cworst\u201d comment she made earlier at the tournament when comparing support for players from smaller countries with the kind of support American players receive on foreign soil.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose from smaller countries come with their colors and flags and it is clear on who they are supporting.\u201d Gauff said in her post. \u201cI was just speaking from my perspective. 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old Gauff, a two-time major winner, said her initial comments were in response to a question at a news conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was asked and it was simply an observation I noticed about other countries vs. mine that is all,\u201d she said. \u201cNevertheless I am grateful for any support no matter how big or small it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a clip of the news conference posted on X, Gauff said: \u201cI feel like we\u2019re definitely in the tennis department the worst when it comes to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that at previous team events she\u2019d noticed that players from other countries get more animated support from their fans than the American tennis players do, but attributed that to the U.S. sports fans having so many successful teams and athletes to support.<\/p>\n

Guaff said there was always good support for the Americans from fans who travel to the Australian Open in Melbourne, \u201cbut I would like to see some more Americans if we make it to Sydney (United Cup finals) in Sydney than there were last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quarterfinals<\/p>\n

The U.S. team is 2-0 after wins over Spain and Argentina and has clinched a spot in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

It was close call against Spain. Fritz, struggling with knee pain, produced a 7-6 (4), 3-6, 7-6 (6) win over No. 38 Jaume Munar. He missed two match points on Munar\u2019s serve in the 12th game of the third set and then saved one in the tiebreaker before sealing the win to level the contest.<\/p>\n

Gauff and Harrison won the doubles 7-6 (5), 6-0 and finished the session signing autographs and posing for photographs with fans, including some waving the American flags.<\/p>\n

At a later news conference Gauff was asked if the reaction to her comments on social media had put her off her game.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t think it was piling on. I was just trying to clarify what I meant. I wrote everything that I had to say on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fritz supported Gauff, saying the reaction to his teammate\u2019s comments were an example of people wanting to \u201cassume the absolute worst.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was here and I know exactly what she meant,\u201d Fritz said. \u201cAnd she said nothing wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PERTH, Australia \u2014 Coco Gauff dropped a post on social media just before she started her United Cup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[2558,99,428],"class_list":{"0":"post-389567","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-latest-headlines","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}