Coco Gauff endured a nervy outing at the 2026 Italian Open, narrowly avoiding an upset against Iva Jovic to keep her title hopes alive. However, her performance sparked mixed reactions among tennis fans.
Gauff began her Rome campaign with wins over Tereza Valentova and Solana Sierra before facing compatriot and 16th seed Jovic on Monday, May 11. After dropping the opening set 5-7, she showed resilience to bounce back 7-5, 6-2 and book her place in the quarterfinals.
Fans quickly took to X (formerly Twitter) to share their thoughts, with some praising Gauff’s fighting spirit while others questioned her form despite the win.
“Coco Gauff didn’t win… Jovic gave her the match as a gift. Gauff is an absolute mental mess, makes the matches awful!!” one fan wrote.
“Everybody and their daughter can boss Coco around on the baseline . It truly gets to a point,” another wrote.
“From being match point up, Jovic has been broken *6 times* in a row. Putting Gauff away is unbelievably hard especially on clay, but a pretty crazy collapse,” one user posted.
“Man she’s a fighter,” another wrote.
“You are talking nonsense. Coco Gauff is a 2X slam champion. Her serve I admit needs help. But Coco has a champion mentality she didn’t panic but Jovic did. The disrespect people have for Coco is ridiculous,” one fan tweeted.
Coco Gauff After Defeating Iva Jovic: “I’m Just Proud”
Coco Gauff spoke to Sky Sports after her hard-fought win over Iva Jovic in the fourth round of the 2026 Italian Open, saying she was “proud” of herself while also praising her opponent for the level she brought to the match.
Gauff said:
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“I’m just proud. Iva played really good tennis and the conditions weren’t the easiest. Everything was going on. Thanks to my team. their pep talk helped me mentally.”
“In my previous round I was not good mentally on the court and this was a complete 180. It shows I can continue to be positive in the most part,” she added.
Coco Gauff will next face Mirra Andreeva in the quarterfinals. The American holds a dominant 4-0 head-to-head advantage, having beaten Andreeva at the French Open and US Open in 2023, and again in Madrid and Rome in 2025.
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