Before Thursday night’s semifinal between Coco Gauff and Elena Rybakina even started, the outcome had already reshuffled the sport’s hierarchy. Rybakina had clinched the No. 1 ranking a day earlier with a quarterfinal win over Zheng Qinwen, becoming the first player from Kazakhstan ever to top the WTA rankings, with the official change taking effect the following Monday. But almost nobody inside a sold-out Arthur Ashe Stadium seemed to notice, or care. What the crowd came for was Gauff, and by the time Rybakina closed out a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win, the noise in the building had begun curdling into silence.
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It’s fair to say that Rybakina had to win the match twice: once against Gauff, and once against a stadium that had made its allegiance obvious from the first point. Rybakina broke Gauff’s serve to move ahead 5-3 in the decider, watched Gauff break right back to close it to 4-5, then had to break her a second straight time when Gauff, serving to stay alive, slipped to 15-40 and sent an overhead long.
Then fans began filing toward the exits before Rybakina’s on-court interview even began, leaving a visibly thinner arena to hear her address it directly on ESPN: “I know you guys wanted her to win.”
Clips of the sparse applause and the early departure spread fast, and the reaction from tennis fans was blunt, with one widely shared post summing up the mood: “Not applauding the winner and scampering away before the winner’s interview starts is sad”.
A separate wave of criticism hit ESPN’s broadcast itself, with some viewers accusing commentators of favoring Gauff even as Rybakina seized control of the match, and pointing to the network’s repeated cutaways to Michelle Obama, who had been cheering for Gauff from the stands. Between the stadium and the broadcast, a sizable chunk of the tennis audience felt Rybakina had been made to feel like a footnote in her own biggest win. This is the first time Rybakina has gone beyond the fourth round at the US Open.
And the contrast with earlier in the evening was hard to miss. Aryna Sabalenka, facing her own partisan crowd rooting for American Jessica Pegula, closed out that semifinal and addressed the stadium directly. “You wanted her to win, it’s obvious, but thank you for being so respectful,” she said, a nod to a crowd that stayed engaged and courteous even while backing the home favorite.
But it is not a courtesy New York has always extended her; this same one-sided energy rattled Sabalenka in the 2023 final, when Gauff beat her for the title.
Gauff, however, was appreciative of the crowd, giving them credit for supporting her.
“Yeah means a lot, always sucks at the end to feel like, I know it’s not like complete disappointment, but just not, you know be able to get the win for them,” said Gauff in her press conference. “But they definitely carry me through a lot of matches here, and I can feel the love all the way down to the last point.”
Still, several fans were not happy with the crowd behavior during the match, with one fan calling for a complete overhaul of the US Open’s image, which has faced separate complaints this year about unusual smells and influencers’ behavior.
“US Open needs to clean up its image: – No pot smell – No sewage smell – No disrespectful and rude fans like the ones tonight You need to clean up in many ways!” said the fan.
“@espn coverage of this tennis match is absolute garbage. Showing Gauff’s mom, then coach, then Michelle Obama after every point isn’t good television, it’s weak and predictable. Is there a 14 year old producing this???” another fan posted.
“The whole crowd screaming towards the end of the match point when coco was still fighting for her life and they thought she already had it…. This crowd has been trash, being so loud smh,” came another shard of criticism.
“DISGRACEFUL, SHAMEFUL, DISRESPECTFUL CROWD @USOPEN.”
One fan pointed out how there were not many people to celebrate Rybakina’s win.
“Great match …crowd frankly disgraceful. 2 athletes giving their all yet the crowd scarpered once their favourite lost. Discourteous rude and lacking any style . Felt so sorry for the victor.”
Even though there was not much appreciation for Rybakina on the court, a fan on social media paid tribute to the Kazakh’s incredible victory. “The quietest player on tour just silenced the loudest crowd.”
Rybakina’s win sets up a final clash with Sabalenka, the second time the two have played in a Major final this year, after meeting in the Australian Open final earlier this year.