Coco Gauff vs. Elena Rybalina ends on sour note thanks to U.S. Open crowd

) | Getty Images What happened at the close of Coco Gauff and Elena Rybakina’s semi-final match at the U.S. Open on Thursday night was nothing short of gross. Going far beyond acceptable behavior for tennis fans, the crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium began wildly cheering when Gauff attempted her game-saving overhead to keep the match alive, then proceeded to remain completely silent when the shot went long, crowning Rybakina the winner. Elena Rybakina books her ticket into her first US Open final! pic.twitter.com/HBDTVBi16U — US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 11, 2026 It’s understandable that the Flushing Meadows crowd was unabashedly pro-Coco, but as soon as the final point was over the vast majority of fans left the stadium immediately — leaving Rybakina to hold her post-match interview in front of almost no fans and hit balls into near-empty stands. It was a shameful display for the crowd, many of whom were it attendance not out of a love of tennis, but simply because they were comped a ticket, or looked at the event as a chance to network. I loathe the vast majority of unwritten rules when it comes to etiquette and “class” in sport. They’re often used as racist or classist dog whistles, but in this case, we had two women play an absolutely stunning match, and the winner deserved an extra handful of minutes to be appreciated by the crowd. It’s basic decency when it comes to tennis, and this wasn’t some regular-season NFL game in front of a home crowd, it’s the U.S. Open, which is a celebration of tennis as a whole — not simply rooting for the hometown talent. The crowd reaction made it abundantly clear that this was not a typical tennis fanbase. These were not people who understood the sport or appreciated the gravity of the match. Instead, like any marquee event, it was another outing where the fans who appreciate the sport the most are left in the cold, while corporations and sponsors get the lion’s share of the tickets, with others being gobbled up by scalpers to sell at exorbitant rates on the secondary market. Elena Rybakina was the better tennis player on Thursday night. She deserved the win, and her flowers along with it. It’s just a shame the crowd that packed the stands didn’t care enough to be gracious in defeat.

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