"Biggest American tennis fraud" - Fans slam Coco Gauff after Amrican's 'worst serving performance' in shock loss to Jasmine Paolini at Cincinnati Open

Fans were left frustrated as Coco Gauff, the World No. 2, lost to Jasmine Paolini in the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Open. Since the French Open, this was the closest she came to winning a title, but ultimately failed to achieve it.

Coco Gauff made a string of basic mistakes in her QF match against Paolini. She racked up 62 unforced errors and 16 double faults to succumb to the Italian, who faced an ankle injury at the start of the deciding set but persevered in the end. Gauff's frustrations were clear as she threw her arms in the air and then smashed her racket on the ground, losing (6-2), (4-6), (3-6).

The American No. 1 lost her third match to Paolini in the 2025 season. Her underwhelming show drew attention from fans, who called out the top players of the US for being a disgrace.

One fan called Gauff and men's No. 1 Taylor Fritz frauds, writing:

"Gauff right up there with Fritz for biggest American tennis fraud"

Another fan questioned Gauff's form in the same line, commenting:

"Coco with 60+ errors and 16 double faults. WTF is she doing?"

A X user wondered whether this is what the WTA has come down to, saying:

"Is this the level of the WTA? Coco Gauff is world number 2 and can't serve??"

Another fan suggested that Coco Gauff consider a coaching change.

"Coco need better coaches'

Another X user predicted Gauff's US Open campaign as well, not putting much hope on her.

"Not expecting Coco to get past R2 in the USopen with this weak ass serve. Embarrassing. Wasting everyone’s time"

Coco Gauff announced missing the US Open mixed doubles days before Fan Week

Gauff at the 2025 French Open press conference - (Source: Getty)

Coco Gauff earned a doubles title at the 2024 French Open and reached the semifinals of a mixed doubles at the 2022 Wimbledon. Despite being selected to play this year, she ruled out the opportunity because of sponsorship engagements and to be mentally charged up for the singles.

“For me, it was just because I know the free week of the US Open is already packed for me, for sponsor things, and it was just like a whole other thing. I’m very competitive, if I were to lose, I would not be happy. So, I didn’t want to waste mental energy on that," she said.

The 21-year-old added:

“I think it’s cool, and I think it’s going to be an exciting two days, and not knocking it off for the future. It’s just that I plan my sponsor weeks literally like a year out, sometimes a year and a half out. And when this whole thing was coming up, I was already booked and busy.”

Gauff was the US Open champion in 2023 but missed defending the title in 2024.

About the author

Agnijeeta is a US Olympics journalist at Sportskeeda. She holds a Master’s degree in English and has worked as a school teacher, a blogger, a content writer and a sports writer over the past 5 years. A lover of high-adrenaline track and field events, she was also a sprinter during her school days.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone happens to be her favorite Olympian, and the athlete’s feat of breaking four records within 13 months inspires her, apart from the American's body language on and off the track. Grant Hackett swimming with a partially dysfunctional lung and winning gold in Athens is her all-time favorite Olympic moment.

Agnijeeta believes that deriving of unique angles from podcasts and interviews carried out by Olympics.com, along with hype-building of potential Olympic events on social media can help fill the coverage gap during the off season.

When not at her work desk, Agnijeeta likes to sing and paint. She also plays string instruments like guitar and ukulele and is an avid player of word puzzles.

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Edited by Pratham K Sharma