Children’s behaviour towards Coco Gauff at the US Open was so disrespectful that security had to step in

The innocence of youth has created scenes at Flushing Meadows today, with a horde of children ordered away from the side of the court by security for an unintentional act of disrespect.

The United States star was struggling with her serve against fellow American Emma Navarro. Children watching could sense it too, leading to scenes at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

With Coco down 5-3 in the deciding set and on serve, the children started filing down the corridors with giant tennis balls and other US Open merchandise.

They were sensing the match was almost over and were moving into prime position to get autographs, even though Gauff had the match on her racket and could still have won against Navarro.

Security had to intervene and usher the children back to their seats to let Gauff focus and complete the match.

‘Coco’s a little unnerved,’ Chris Fowler said in commentary.

‘When you’re at the end of a match, the extras will let the kids come down with the giant tennis balls to sign, a signal that they believe this could end soon.’

Former champion Chris Evert was not impressed with the actions of the children and said Gauff appeared to be thrown off as well.

‘The guards should prevent that from happening,’ she said.

‘Coco checks it out, just kind of stares them down, and walks off the line here. It’s not cool,’ Fowler added.

Unfortunately for Gauff, she was broken on her service game and the match was over.

It was the latest in a series of early-for-her exits in recent weeks, including bowing out in the third round at the Paris Olympics, then going 1-2 at hard-court tuneup events before arriving in New York.

Gauff attributed her problems to a mix of issues with her mechanics – ‘I go down on my left side a lot on my serve, and it´s something I´m aware of, but it´s tough in the moment to, I guess, try not to do it,’ she explained – and in her mind.

‘It’s sometimes more of an emotional, mental thing, because if I go out on the practice court right now, I would make, like, 30 serves in a row. I´ve done it before,’ Gauff said.

‘I think it´s also just kind of a mental hurdle that I have to get over when it comes. … But I definitely want to look at other things, because I don´t want to lose matches like this anymore.’

She finished with a total of 60 unforced errors – a whopping 29 on her forehand side.

The 23-year-old Navarro, who also eliminated Gauff in the fourth round at Wimbledon in July, was far steadier on Sunday, although she still did have 35 unforced errors.

‘It was a little bit of a battle of will there for a bit. But proud of just my effort today,’ said Navarro, a U.S. teammate of Gauff’s at the Paris Games. ‘I was able to stick in there through some tough moments.’