What is this strange ritual? SportsCenter confused after Coco Gauff prays after Grand Slam win

After capturing victory in the US Open, completing her first ever Grand Slam, tennis star Coco Gauff knelt in prayer to give thanks to God.

SportsCenter seemed perplexed.

They described her actions as taking 'a moment to soak it all in', despite her kneeling, crossing her hands in front of her face, closing her eyes, and speaking aloud.

.@CocoGauff took a moment to soak it all in after winning her first Grand Slam title ❤️ pic.twitter.com/elBGm2wQeC

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 9, 2023

Or, perhaps, they knew exactly what Gauff was doing. Have you ever noticed there's a weird awkwardness surrounding prayer in our modern culture?

Sure, you can shout boldly from the rooftops that kids should be able to choose their own gender, but an athlete thanking God or praying? Yikes! 'Just keep real quiet guys. No sudden movement, and it will probably be over soon.'

I hate to break this to you SportsCenter but Coco Gauff was not “soaking it all in” at this moment. She was praying. She has been very open about her Christian faith in the past. It seems pretty obvious what she is doing here. https://t.co/UOZ6zoCEPC

— Tony Dungy (@TonyDungy) September 10, 2023

When asked about her prayer in a later interview, Coco responded: 'I don't pray for results, I just ask that I get the strength to give it my all and whatever happens, happens.'

A truly impressive young lady.

That’s called praying

— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) September 10, 2023

TwitterX commenters were sure to correct SportsCenter.

Making a concerted effort to avoid acknowledging prayer makes you look completely ridiculous. 🙄

— CarolinaConservative3 (@1776Carolina3) September 10, 2023

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You know, guys, you don't have to put plastic wrap on everything. Sure, there are a handful of people out there who might be offended at the notion of an athlete praying. They'll get over it.

She’s actually doing the *opposite* of soaking it all in. Instead, she’s giving it all up—in gratitude to God. That’s called praying.

— Joshua Claybourn (@JoshuaClaybourn) September 10, 2023

Even Community Notes had an incorrect note on this one (at least at the time we wrote this). The Note claimed that the video caption was wrong and the prayer occurred before the match and not after.

Prayer makes some people act very weird.

Regardless, the Community Note was wrong. This occurred after she won, according to people who witnessed the prayer in person and longer video clips of the match.

Whoever added this context is wrong. I was there in the stands. She wasn't praying before the match. It was several minutes AFTER she won, AFTER she went to hug her parents, team, etc & while waiting for the ceremony to begin. It was a special moment. Don't take it out of context

— Leslie T Copeland (@copeytwo) September 10, 2023

I was watching this earlier and they cut away to commercial when she started praying. https://t.co/WIkYuwy2GB

— G (@stevensongs) September 10, 2023

LOL! Classic.

Who knew we could get so hyper over a simple act of faith? (We did.)

***if you see this...Go to the hidden replies.

— Astraea (@Astraeajustice1) September 10, 2023

Dare we?

Okay, we did. We're not going to share those tweets … Those people were definitely not praying. LOL.

Dear ESPN,

This is called "praying."

Some of us still do it. https://t.co/ExXWnuayYa

— Jason Howerton (@jason_howerton) September 10, 2023

We do exist!

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and soaking it all in” https://t.co/v63FhgpY5O

— Adam Thomas (@AdamMerrivale) September 10, 2023

LOLOLOL! Well done, sir. Well done.

How many of y’all are headed to church this morning to “soak it all in”? https://t.co/V7EkxVPSLZ

— Joel J Miller (@joeljmiller) September 10, 2023

Guilty.

Sending my thoughts and moments. https://t.co/9NKM3QEI53

— Chief Impact Officer BT (@back_ttys) September 10, 2023

'Thoughts and moments'! Ha!

Feels like a teachable moment for @SportsCenter. This is actually a thing called “prayer”.

For anyone else in sports journalism unfamiliar with the practice, Coco herself explained it better than anyone: https://t.co/uKnmK0iGmR pic.twitter.com/jbZBC8mQSX

— Ari Lamm (@AriLamm) September 10, 2023

We'll 'soak it all in for you' at church today, SportsCenter.

***

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