Elena Rybakina said she understood why the US Open crowd cheered against her as she came from a set down to beat home favourite Coco Gauff in the semi-finals on Thursday night. The second seed claimed a 3-6 6-4 6-4 victory at around 11pm local time, with the 23,000 fans inside the Arthur Ashe Stadium starting to stream out while she was still completing her on-court interview.
Fans leave after American losses
Most of the fans had already had enough and left the stadium after seeing two American women lose in the semi-finals – Aryna Sabalenka beat Jessica Pegula earlier in the evening. Those inside Ashe had been vocally pulling for Gauff throughout the two-hour and nine-minute contest, groaning when the No. 4 seed made errors and cheering when she benefited from Rybakina's mistakes.
The fans helped the 2023 champion come back from a break down in the final set, breaking when Rybakina served for the win. But it wasn't enough, and a game later, with Gauff serving to stay in the match, Rybakina broke to seal victory and book her place in Saturday's final.
Social media reaction and Rybakina's response
Fans on social media were unhappy with the reception the two-time Grand Slam champion received as she reached her first US Open final. "Rybakina not getting any applause after the match is pretty pathetic. I get that the crowd was all for Coco, but come on," @BarrVisuals tweeted. @itsdinadidi added: "what's impressed me most about rybakina at this us open is her mentality. even after losing the first set and playing against a crowd that was clearly against her, she stayed calm, raised her level and found a way to win."
Rybakina herself has now addressed the crowd's reaction and fully understood that the American spectators wanted to root for one of their own. "I don't know, to be honest. I feel like it was a great match, and of course, a lot of people today wanted Coco to win. It's normal. I think everyone understands," the Kazakh star, who will be the new world No. 1 on Monday, said of the reception.
"In the beginning, I felt like it was a very nice atmosphere, and only in the end, when I was up in the third set, [the] crowd really supported a lot Coco. But I tried to focus on myself, tried to not listen. Yeah, I feel like for me it was also first match on Ashe at night. I enjoyed the atmosphere even if the crowd mostly was for Coco."
Gauff commends Rybakina's composure
Despite losing in a final set, Gauff also commended the second seed for the way she remained composed while the fans were rooting against her. "I think Elena is probably… not nonchalant. I don't want to say that, because she's not nonchalant, but just no reaction ever," she explained.
"I'm sure – like, it may appear that way, but we're all feeling nerves and stuff. Now, how much of that she lets get to her, we don't know, and I think that's, like, the strength of her. You can never see what she's feeling. For sure, she's human, so she's feeling nerves and all the things that we all feel. But like I said, she's dealt with this on more than one occasion, so she has the experience."
