Coco Gauff's wild 'This is my sh*t' celebration at Italian Open after reaching final leaves fans divided

Coco Gauff's celebration after reaching her first Italian Open final divided fans. The American screamed 'This is my sh*t' after a three-set semifinal against Zheng Qinwen but some fans were left unimpressed with her performance.

On Thursday, May 15, Gauff took on Qinwen in the semifinal at the Italian Open. The American was chasing a consecutive WTA 1000 championship match after reaching the Madrid Open final a fortnight ago. Qinwen, meanwhile, was hoping to reach her first final since the WTA Finals last year.

Gauff outlasted Qinwen 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(4) in a grueling 3-hour, 32-minute semifinal at the Italian Open. The match, although long and gritty, was not clinical. Both players racked up a total of 158 unforced errors, including Gauff's 16 double faults.

On a positive note, with the win, Gauff reached her first Rome final and became the first American woman to do so since Serena Williams and Madison Keys contested the 2016 title match.

After earning the win, she let her emotions flow and screamed:

"Don't play with me!!!This my sh*t!!!!"

A video of the same was shared on X, and some fans felt that Gauff should not have reacted in such a manner, considering her performance.

"Pretty cringe reaction after playing god awful tennis and getting gifted another finals appearance by the establishment... Paolini knows what to do," one fan wrote.

"She needs to cut down on those double faults before she start feeling herself like this," another fan wrote.

"She needs to calm the f*ck down. Her shit is making double faults and relying on her opponents to make mistakes," a third fan wrote.

However, some fans supported Coco Gauff's expression of emotions after the match.

"So proud of you Coco‼️🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏😍" one fan wrote.

"I’m here for the Coco LFG era!!! Come on, gurl!!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥" another fan wrote.

"I absolutely fucking LOVED seeing her show all that emotion!!!!!" yet another fan wrote.

---

Coco Gauff to face Jasmine Paolini in the Italian Open 2025 final

Coco Gauff at the Internazionali BNL D'Italia 2025 - Source: Getty

Coco Gauff will take on home favorite, Jasmine Paolini, in the final of the Italian Open on Saturday, May 17. Gauff is leading their head-to-head 2-1, but Paolini’s lone win came just last month on clay in Stuttgart, where she beat Gauff in straight sets.

In their earlier meetings, both Gauff victories, came on hard courts in 2021 and 2023. Now, with a WTA 1000 title on the line, both players are chasing major milestones.

Gauff is aiming for her first career title on clay since Parma in 2021. The 20-year-old has reached back-to-back WTA 1000 finals and holds an 11-2 clay record this season.

For Paolini, the stakes are even more historic. She’s the first Italian woman to reach the Rome final since Sara Errani in 2014, and a win would make her the tournament’s first female homegrown champion in 40 years.