Coco Gauff has directly replied on social media after a tennis fan accused the new China Open champion of having “the mentality of a five-year-old”.

The American star blistered her way to victory in Beijing, defeating Karolina Muchova 6-1, 6-3 to record her eighth WTA title, the first after parting ways with previous coach Brad Gilbert.

But shortly after lifting the title, she took a photo and shared it on her Instagram story, hitting back at trolls by mocking their previous comments as she wrote a caption: “sHe OnLy wInS 250s… well…. WOMP WOMP”

However, her reaction was not taken kindly by a subset of social media users, as @hazvlou on X (formerly known as Twitter) reposted the photo and wrote: “coco has the mentality of a 5-year-old old i’m sorry”.

Only for Gauff herself to directly reply to the post, sharing: “Honestly kids have the best outlook on life. they are so positive and creative. so I’ll take it (heart emoji) my goal this tournament was to play and enjoy tennis as much as I did when I was a kid because that’s when life was/is the most fun!”

When jokingly told by a fan that she should spend her time celebrating rather than on X, Gauff wrote back: “I love u too! I’m bored and procrastinating on packing. I don’t even have the app downloaded i use on website to avoid going on it but everyone now and then I like to pop in and see what’s poppin lol.”

Coco Gauff responds after being accused of having ‘child’s mentality’ in China Open win

The 20-year-old did her talking on the court, however, the second WTA 1000 title of her career after her 2023 victory in Cincinnati, where she also beat Muchova in the final.

“I want to say congratulations to you Karolina, it’s great to see you back on tour,” Gauff said of her opponent after a lengthy spell on the sidelines. “I think you’re such an amazing player. You deserve everything and hopefully you play many more finals.”