01/27/26 05:19:00
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01/27 05:17 CST 'Emotional' Coco Gauff smashes racket in frustration after
Australian Open loss
'Emotional' Coco Gauff smashes racket in frustration after Australian Open loss
By JOHN PYE
AP Sports Writer
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) --- Coco Gauff smashed her racket into the concrete
floor once for every time she dropped serve, and another one for good measure,
after her Australian Open quarterfinal loss to Elina Svitolina on Tuesday.
The third-seeded Gauff, a two-time major winner, struggled with her serve and
recorded five double-faults in the first set, when she was broken four times.
There were two more service breaks in the second set and, once the match was
over --- in 59 minutes --- Gauff stayed composed as she left the center court
and tried to find somewhere quiet to vent her frustrations.
Turns out, there's pretty much no place in Rod Laver Arena except for the
locker rooms that is beyond the scope of the cameras. So, the seven times she
pounded her racket into a concrete ramp were far from a private moment
following her 6-1, 6-2 defeat.
"Certain moments --- the same thing happened to Aryna (Sabalenka) after I
played her in the final of the U.S. Open --- I feel like they don't need to
broadcast," Gauff said in her post-match news conference. "I tried to go
somewhere where I thought there wasn't a camera because I don't necessarily
like breaking rackets.
"I broke one racket (at the) French Open, I think, and I said I would never do
it again on court because I don't feel like that's a good representation. So,
yeah, maybe some conversations can be had."
Gauff hit just three clean winners across 15 games, made 26 unforced errors and
won 2 of 11 points on her second serve. She got 74% of her first serves into
play, but only won 41% of those points.
It was an usually bad day for a player who made her Grand Slam debut at 15 and
won her first major, the 2023 U.S. Open, at 19. She's still only 21.
Gauff said she felt it was better to shatter a racket than to take out any
frustrations on her support team.
"They're good people. They don't deserve that, and I know I'm emotional," Gauff
said. "So, yeah, I just took the minute to go and do that.
"I don't think it's a bad thing. Like I said, I don't try to do it on court in
front of kids and things like that, but I do know I need to let out that
emotion."
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