"Protect Iga Swiatek from an obsessed psycho" - Fans annoyed at Coco Gauff's ex-coach seemingly taking a dig at Pole's Cincinnati Open scheduling

Fans expressed annoyance as Coco Gauff's ex-coach, Brad Gilbert, took a dig at Iga Swiatek for playing in the morning, and asked whether her team asked for it. Gilbert mentored Gauff from July 2023 to September 2024, and previously coached legendary players like Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, and Andy Murray.

At the ongoing Cincinnati Open, Iga Swiatek will play her quarterfinal match against Anna Kalinskaya at 11 a.m., the first match on the center court. Swiatek, the reigning Wimbledon champion, trounced Sorana Cirstea in straight sets in the previous round.

Though the scheduling was perfect for the Pole, it was far from pleasing for Gilbert, who took a jab at the scheduling and wondered whether Swiatek's team did it or it happened by default.

"You don’t even have to look at schedule and Know Iga Pop on 1st at 11am wonder if her team ask for that or just happens that way a lot," Gilbert wrote.

One fan asked if Coco Gauff's former coach had any other concerns rather than picking something so trivial.

"don't you have other things to worry like idk coco's 2nd serve and forehand?"

Another X user felt the reason for such blame stemmed from Gilbert's not being selected to coach Iga Swiatek.

"you did not get that job as her coach, we get it. just move on already"

A fan lambasted Gilbert, calling him psychotic for his obsession with the Polish player. Noting the need to protect the player, the fan wrote:

"Dude, you’re like 80 years old and you spend the whole days thinking about a young girl? That’s creepy as hell. I’m wondering if it’s time for some institution to step in and protect Iga from an obsessed psycho."

A X user spoke in the same line, asking why Swiatek's preference was unusual for him.

"Cause Coco is not asking for preferred time? What is this Iga obsession recently?!"

Another fan gave a proper reasoning, writing:

"It's obvious that she will play at 11.00 am because Sabalenka and Rybakina is the billboard for night session. What is your problem Man?"

Anna Kalinskaya called out the unfair scheduling of the 11 a.m. match against Iga Swiatek

Kalinskaya at the Cincinnati Open 2025 - Day 7 - (Source: Getty)

Since she hardly rested, Anna Kalinskaya quickly lashed out at the unfair schedule of her quarterfinals match against Iga Swiatek at 11 a.m. The Russian returned from her previous game at 2:40 in the morning and didn't go to bed until early in the morning. Lashing out at WTA in her Instagram story, she wrote:

"How can the @wta and tournament expect athletes to perform their best when the scheduling is this unfair? After my match against Alexandrova, I got home from the site at 2:40am and didn't go to bed until 4am. I slept a bit and came to the site to practice. Then I get scheduled at 11 am for tomorrow's match - how does the tournament and WTA expect me to recover and continuously adjust my sleep pattern.."

Iga Swiatek will vie for her second US Open title after bagging one at the 2022 edition.

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 Samya Majumdar