Ben Shelton in hot water over Coco Gauff comments, loved for "male' playing style" 🤦🚫 | US Open 2024

we had Coco go opening her title defense with quite a comfortable win 62 six love over vvar graa um really good performance actually from Coco golf um she said it's the best tennis she's played in a while which is you know fantastic for her as a defending Champion just over an hour out on Arthur Ash um but actually Chris before we get into the the actual um complexities of the match perhaps there weren't so many complexities as it was quite a you know straightforward match um there were some comments actually made by Ben Shelton um about Coco goof and I thought they were quite interesting because he was saying that one of the reasons she's so popular or such a big name is because she's got that name Coco it's it's bit of like a brand bonus benefit to her um you know it's an iconic kind of name you just know her Coco um and you know you know when you made it when people were referring to you just by your first name you know Madonna for example she's just Coco yes um but also another interesting comment he said that she plays a bit like a male player and that is also somewhat um responsible for why she's quite popular with the fans what do you make of of that um aspect of the comment that Ben Shelton made well I think he was asked in quite like a a laid-back Environ and maybe he didn't really consider what he was saying before he said it because you know saying she's charismatic such a great athlete so many qualities out there on the court that you know resemble a male player The Way She Moves the way she can defend and I think he's trying to pay her a compliment here but I do think it doesn't come across in a great way because saying that she is so well liked and so popular because she resembles a male player isn't really a GL testimony of women's tennis it's more just saying because she plays like the guys do she's therefore much more watchable and much more liked and because she's got a fun name which I'm just like well maybe she's just really good at tennis and she was so good so young that she's actually a story that people have followed and willed her on to be successful because of just how much promise she showed in that first Wimbledon and what she's achieved you know being top 10 for so long and she's only just 20 and then winning the slam on top of it so I'm hoping that when she said resembles a male player in terms of like potentially a male sort of counter puncher someone who can defend really well I think we see some of the best defensive games are on the men's tour quite often I think her game is quite rare on the women's T to be that good at defending but then at the same time if it's saying charismatic and a great athlete like a male player then I've got a bit more of an issue with it but I mean what's your take is it is it borderline on the misogynistic side of things or is it just a bit of a flippant comment gone a bit wrong I can definitely view it in like through a sexist lens um when he's sort of saying I mean to give Ben Shelton his due you know he has said that she's you know a great athlete and charismatic and I think he's obviously really a big fan of hers and and you know values her and and what have you but maybe he hasn't worded this in the best way when you see it written there on paper because yeah saying that you know she resembles a male player and the way she moves the way she can defend saying that as in terms of like her qualities it's it's almost saying that's the ideal that's the ultimate to to be like a male player not even better than yeah a tribute it's like it's like saying the male player is is the default and then if you're a female player you're you know you're other you're deviated from the default and you should try to be as much as possible like the default when actually you know you should just be yourself and embrace who you are and it it's just yeah looking at it through I guess mayale lens um as simple as that and I I just don't think it was yeah a bit toneless maybe it's not helpful is it audience in his defense the only thing I can think of is I know that Bianca andrescu when she was coming up on the tour her coach actually made her watch so much Challenger men's tennis from the lower levels of the tour and that was so that she had a more complete game because he her coach at the time said that this is where you really have to learn how to win and you're fighting for every point and I think that was something that he didn't believe existed quite so much at some of the lower levels of the women side of the game I think there's a lot more plan a sometimes being executed um whereas I think there seems to be the retrieving skills you can see there is something maybe in that that Bianca's got a lot of variety she plays with a lot of pace spins slices Drop shots lobs um and that's actually something that she actually did try and emulate that sort of style of play um obviously it did get her a slam but since then it hasn't been quite as successful with the injuries that she's had but maybe there is that element that could be kind of giving the benefit of the doubt in this case Kim but I mean probably Ben and his like PR and agent would just be thinking Ben why you have to say why you said that leave gender out of it she's just because she's the the best person that you know or just say something really like nice in that moment because there are so many glowing sort of reasons why I think she's so popular I mean why do you think the story became so popular um obviously winning the US Open at home helps doesn't it Kim yeah and I think the fact that she broke onto the scene so young we've already known her for what five odd years um she's becoming a household name and a lot of people I know who don't really watch that much tenis they do know who she is because she has also been quite active outside of the tennis space as well um but I think that his comments about what her parents named her you know um as if it's sort of be always being this sort of long-term branding game that's why they've sort of like nickname her Coco and stuff yeah call me Coco yeah yeah it's it's I guess you know I can see where he's coming from with that but I don't know I think you can kind of analyze it and sometimes people just have that kind of star quality as well which I do think she she has she does in bucket loads and I think the whole Triumph against some of the results not coming and a lot of people saying they weren't going to come I think even us at times maybe were doubting that she would necessarily get the slam after some of the results she had last year and she proved everyone wrong and I think that's also that sort of character that really means she is so loved because she was able to do it despite people maybe not thinking that she were to said all the haters fueled her fire so maybe not saying Ben's a hater but maybe this will fuel her fire because she was doing a Victory lap yesterday on court Kim when she took out Gara and that was a pretty straightforward match for her and I mean she definitely did defend very well she moved very well and she did play like a great athlete um to get that result but it seemed like she was super focused out there but also what was quite nice is that she acknowledged the fact that it had been a bit tough but she saw a Tik Tock Kim that gave her her US Open perspective so this is also why I think she's so liked because of these candid comments that she makes and how much she is I mean she is Gen Zed she is of that generation you know she's very relatable in that sense that she said she saw a Tik Tok um someone commented on a Tik Tok saying you've won in life literally and figuratively and there's no point in piling pressure on herself on a Victory lap um and so she said she's just treating this tournament like a Victory lap not like there's something to defend um because she's already won something and that's what defending means what I think that's great and I think it's actually quite refreshing to take a complet different perspective from trying to live up to the hype of last year and actually just enjoying being back yeah I think that that line she said about If you defend something that means you want something and it's s reframing it to put a bit less pressure on yourself and actually to just appreciate that that that success from from last year and you think yeah I've already won it so let's just you know go out there and and see if I could win it again but not sort of be too daunted by and we saw like Von juus at Wimbledon the the pressure and the the excruciating pressure that she felt to to turn up and defend and try to put herself out there when she wasn't ready and similar thing you exactly and it's just actually quite a refreshing attitude and Vibe coming from from golf and I think we saw that in in the victory on court that she you know was so much better than what we saw from her in in the Olympics Cincinnati Toronto like she's not had that form she's really struggled lately but hopefully being able to reframe and it might just be yeah some something simple like a comment on a Tik Tok talk has made her think differently so yeah it just goes to show that yeah sometimes social media does have an impact and you know this was a fan leaving a comment so you know I guess you know she's got many fans and so many comments are coming people do read the comments yeah they can be really helpful um so yeah let's see how she will do she's got Tatiana Maria in the second round um so let's see if Coco can keep the uh performance levels up for that and Beyond