Chris Evert's "Bias" Noticed By Viewers

Chris Evert, a ESPN tennis announcer, has been accused of showing major "bias" during the Coco Gauff vs. Naomi Osaka Round of 16 match on last 1 September.

The battle between Gauff and Osaka was billed as the most anticipated Round of 16 match in recent Grand Slam history - men or women. It failed to live up to the hype. Osaka, the 27-year-old four-time Grand Slam champion, made incredibly easy work of 21-year-old Gauff. Osaka, playing for Japan, bested the American Gauff in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2. The match was never really close.

Evert, who joined ESPN in 2011 as an analyst, made excuse after excuse for Gauff during the match. Evert, an 18-time Grand Slam champion, talked at length about how the past week was "just too much" for Gauff. The 21-year-old tennis star, who won the French Open earlier this year, has been going through a change to her serve. Gauff was been quite emotional this week, crying in one of her earlier matches.

"Honestly, today was a tough match for me, but I'm just happy with how I was able to manage it. It's been a rough couple of weeks," Gauff told ESPN before she began to cry after an earlier match. "You guys really helped me a lot so I'm doing this for myself and I'm also doing it for you. No matter how tough it gets inside, you can do it."

On 1 September, though, Osaka was simply too much for her.

Evert, who is close with Gauff, seemed more saddened by Gauff's performance than excited by Osaka's. The U.S Open crowd seemed to be in a similar position. It was surprisingly quiet throughout the match at Arthur Ashe, which is typically one of the loudest in the sport.

On social media, fans ripped Evert for appearing to show major bias toward Gauff.

"Chris Evert’s ongoing and incessant excuse-making and “contextualizing” Coco Gauff’s loss again is nauseating. Tournament in, tournament out, Evert’s cheerleading for Gauff is irritating. Osaka just trounced her massively - quickly and easily - and Evert couldn’t give kudos to Osaka, no. It was about Coco not having it mentally and emotionally," one tennis fan wrote on X.

"Why does Chrissie Evert routinely sound like she's about to break down into tears whenever an America woman is losing at a grand slam? Acted like Coco Gauff was the only one on court today," one fan added on X.

"Hey Chrissy Evert we heard you the first 3 times that Coco has been emotional this week - lay off it," one fan added.

"What would it take for Chris Evert to just say coco isn’t the best player on the Court? Or that if someone like Osaka or Sabalenka doesn’t beat them selves, coco isn’t good enough to win?" one fan added.

"If Coco Gauff loses, she won’t be as upset as Chrissie Evert. Another deeply biased, one-sided match for Evert whose lack of analysis deprives viewers," one fan added.