Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek are on a collision course for a showdown in the French Open semifinals. However, the tennis fans didn’t like it when the young American warned her opponent before the WTA world number 1 vs world number 2 showdown. Instead of boosting Gauff’s competition against the pole, fans pretty much bashed her before the match.

Gauff defeated the resurgent Tunisian Ons Jabeur in three sets on Tuesday to set up their semifinal match. On the other hand, Swiatek defeated Marketa Vondrousova, the current Wimbledon champion, 6-0 6-2, to schedule a second meeting with Gauff. However, in a press conference ahead of the thrilling encounter with Swiatek, the US Open champion gave the outlook of the last against the 22-year-old. She said, “I have nothing to lose. All the pressure is on her.” 

After winning the US Open the previous year, Coco Gauff became the youngest player to reach three consecutive major semifinals since Maria Sharapova 17 years ago. She followed that up with semifinal performances at the Australian Open and this past fortnight in Paris. Nevertheless, defeating the formidable Iga Swiatek in the world’s top competition would be an even bigger accomplishment.

But Gauff still has a lot of work ahead of her as she gets ready to go on with the reigning champion, who has been ranked first for a long time. This match will be tough since Swiatek has always figured out how to counter Gauff’s occasionally weak forehand. In the Cincinnati WTA tune-up prior to the U.S. Open last year, the American secured her lone victory over Swiatek. When they met on clay in Rome three weeks ago, Swiatek prevailed 6-4, 6-3. However, this time, Gauff is going into the match with a lot of confidence.

The Polish tennis player, in the meantime, is aware of the difficulties she will encounter as she prepares for her showdown with the American. She stated, “It’s good to just keep going and not think about this match as something huge — just another match — to not put too much baggage on your shoulders. But I guess Coco is not easy. She really likes playing on clay, especially here. I’ll just focus on myself and I’ll prepare tactically and we’ll see.”

Subsequently, fans are not happy with the way Gauff displayed her confidence with the pressuring statement against the world number one. Along with that, a lot of tennis fans came forward to share their views over the 20-year-old tennis player’s take on facing Swiatek, when she is the one rising up to the ranking while her opponent is settled in the number one position, with continuous WTA victories lined up.

Fans criticize Coco Gauff’s overconfidence ahead of the showdown with Iga Swiatek

As soon as the official Twitter handle of the US Open, shared Gauff’s thoughts on social media, while a lot of fans supported her take, others were not happy and shared their disappointment with proper reasoning in the comment section. A fan highlighted how the American is not the first one to turn the tables on Swiatek, to earlier, her quarter-final opponent, Marketa Vondrousova, also did the same, raising questions over her thought process.

He wrote, “I already didn’t like Vondrousova with that answer; now it’s Gauff, the player who will become the number 2 in the world, saying she has nothing to lose, really? what mentality is this?” On the other hand, another one brought up the head-to-head data between the two to give a reality check to the 20-year-old tennis player, “Girl, you’re 1-10 h2h, have some shame.” 

Following that, another tennis fan talked about the other stats, proving that the pole is on the safer side of the game. He wrote, “She had to say something. But Girl, you were 3 then, and you’re 2 now, and you got nothing to lose? I don’t know 😕  maybe winning another slam?”