Coco Gauff's father Corey drops 4-word response to troll complaining about Ben Shelton reaching Australian Open SF instead of Carlos Alcaraz

Coco Gauff's father Corey has stepped in to defend Ben Shelton after criticism emerged over his path to the semifinals of the 2025 Australian Open. The complaints about the seeding arose due to Carlos Alcaraz falling short of the final four in Melbourne.

Shelton engaged in a closely contested battle with Lorenzo Sonego in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, claiming a 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(4) victory after a three-hour and 50-minute encounter. Although the American advanced to his maiden semifinal at the Melbourne Slam, Alcaraz fell short of achieving the same feat.

The Spaniard squared off against Novak Djokovic in a blockbuster quarterfinal clash, suffering a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 loss to the 24-time Grand Slam champion.

Following Ben Shelton's victory, an Instagram user made a comment criticizing the American's presence in the semifinals instead of Carlos Alcaraz, blaming the seeding for the situation.

"Alcaraz not making it to the semis while Ben doing so is sh*t seeding," the user commented.

The jibe caught the attention of Coco Gauff's father Corey, who sarcastically suggested that it would be simpler to just congratulate Shelton on his achievement.

"How about congrats Ben," he responded.

Coco Gauff's father Corey coming to Ben Shelton's defense isn't unexpected, since his daughter is close friends with the 22-year-old. Amid his campaign at the Australian Open, Shelton opened up about his strong bond with Gauff and Christopher Eubanks.

"I'm friends with most of them. Definitely close friends with Coco and Chris Eubanks. We've been watching pretty closely to see if Banks will get in as a lucky loser," Shelton said.

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"Me, Christopher Eubanks and Coco Gauff, we'll do escape rooms, sometimes we'll go on a dare" - Ben Shelton

Ben Shelton and Coco Gauff - Source: Getty

During the Australian Open, Coco Gauff, Ben Shelton, and Christopher Eubanks enjoyed a fun evening out in Melbourne. Shelton shed light on their outing in an on-court interview at the Major, humorously calling out the paparazzi for cropping Eubanks out of the pictures.

"Yeah, me, Chris and Coco, we'll do escape rooms, sometimes we'll go on a dare. We might be retired after this week because the paparazzi are taking pictures of us and cropping Chris out of the photo, so Chris wasn't too happy about that," Shelton said.

Shelton will continue his quest for his maiden Grand Slam title against top seed and defending champion Jannik Sinner in the semifinals. Sinner enjoys a 4-1 lead in their head-to-head record, with the Italian winning all three of their encounters last season.

Meanwhile, Coco Gauff's Australian Open campaign ended in the quarterfinals with a 7-5, 6-4 loss to Paula Badosa. Christopher Eubanks, on the other hand, failed to reach the main draw, losing 6-4, 6-4 to Tristan Boyer in the third round of qualifying.