It’s not wrong to say Coco Gauff loves playing in front of her home crowd, especially when fans shower the American with love. Having blown away Marta Kostyuk in the Cincinnati Open quarterfinal, the World No.4 blushed as her fans sang songs of praise for the home favorite.

“I don’t know who was saying ‘I’m in love with the Coco,’ but I like that one. That was a good one,” said Gauff in her on-court interview when asked about what was special about playing at home. “And it’s the right Coco!”

The American was in a good mood as she thanked the crowd for their support, while smiling with her hands on her face.

Gauff has always received feverish support whenever she has played in the US, with crowds singing for the home favorite every step of the way back in 2023, when the World No.4 clinched the title in Flushing Meadows. However, back then, fans sang “CoCo” by OT Genasis. Even though the song’s title was a namesake for Gauff, the meaning of the same in the lyrics referred to a banned substance, which is why Gauff used the words “Right Coco” after her Cincinnati win.

Gauff has always thrived playing before a home crowd, with some excellent results in US competitions. In addition to her US Open triumph, the American won the Washington and Cincinnati titles in 2023, which added a major boost of confidence going into the major. She had immense fan support even when she lost in the final of the Miami Open against Aryna Sabalenka this year.

Now with the US Open a few days away, Gauff is ticking all the right boxes during her warm-up stints across the Canadian Open and the Cincinnati Open. She had a great run in Toronto, defeating the likes of Kayla Day, Maria Sakkari, and Anna Korneeva to reach the semifinals, where she lost a tough three-set match to Elena Rybakina.

At the Cincinnati Open, Gauff has beaten Liudmila Samsonova, Ann Li and Marie Bouzkova so far, and even scored a dominant victory over Kostyuk in the quarterfinal, proving that she is geared up for New York. What is more significant is that Gauff seems to have overcome her serving deficiencies, improving on her habit of double-faulting and adding deft net play to her baseline game, which saw her reach the Wimbledon semifinal.

Gauff’s three-set record is another aspect that puts the American in good standing, as she has won sixteen three-set matches this year, while ten of her thirteen losses in the season were in three sets. This is where the crowd support comes into play, as Gauff feeds off the crowd’s energy as the match goes deep and can make her opponents err.