Coco Gauff shares her thoughts on the crowd noise during tennis matches

Coco Gauff joined the discussion about the noise of the crowd at Roland Garros. The world No. 3 has already reached the fourth round of the French Open with ease after defeating the 30th seed Dayana Yastremska 6-2, 6-4. The American has not yet conceded a set and has averaged only 2.5 games per set.

The 2023 US Open champion is one of the most beloved players by fans at practically every tournament she participates in. In a press conference, the 20-year-old was asked for her opinion on the crowd noise, a topic that was addressed during the week by Iga Swiatek and David Goffin, prompting reactions from several of their colleagues.

A journalist took advantage of Gauff's press conference to ask her opinion on the noise from the fans during the matches: “You've played on all the great stages of the game. Can you just go off sort of free-form on the differences on the big stages, what you like, the differences, and also, maybe what's the most fun crowd or different, unusual crowd of some of the smaller tournaments,” the world No. 3 was asked.

“I like big crowds obviously, and I like when people are passionate about the match. I know sometimes during the point it can be tough when there's crowd noise, and especially when it's unexpected. I think constant noise is better. I think to an extent it's tough because you're watching a match at such high stakes, and I see myself as a spectator,” Coco Gauff expressed.

“Even when I'm watching my little brother play, you want to make a noise. It is tough sometimes. I think for the most part people are respectful to the players. There's obviously some crowds that maybe aren't,” she added. “But my favorite court - well, I mean, other than US Open - honestly, I like playing on Suzanne Lenglen the last two days, which I wouldn't probably have picked that answer in the past, but I don't know, there were so many kids on that court.

“They were, like, cheering for me really loudly, which I wasn't expecting. I feel like usually when I play on Lenglen, the crowd is more calm and chill. But for some reason this year, I don't know if the tickets have been changed. I don't know. Every time I played there, there was a group of boys, different boys, but all under the age of 12, and they were just cheering super loudly. I actually enjoyed that. And they were respectful to my opponent, which I like when it's like that.”

The next challenge for Gauff will be against Elisabetta Cocciaretto (No. 51), who has reached the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career.

The Italian has had a remarkable campaign with victories over two top-20 players: Beatriz Haddad Maia (No. 14) in the first round and more recently against Liudmila Samsonova (No. 17) in the third round. Now she will seek the most important victory of her career against the American.