Coco Gauff spent about an hour on the court in her quarterfinal loss to Elina Svitolina at the Australian Open on Tuesday, Jan. 27.
Usually, when a player spends that much time on court during a match, it isn’t a good sign for the player who ends up losing. That’s exactly what happened to Gauff, the third-seed in the tournament, when she was routed by Svitolina 6-1, 6-2 in a quick 59 minutes.
Svitolina, the No. 12 seed and still seeking her first Grand Slam championship, moves on and will play top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals
After the match, Gauff left Rod Laver Arena and headed toward the locker room, where her frustrations boiled over, and she was seen on camera smashing her racket on the floor.
‘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 after the match. ‘I tried to go somewhere where I thought there wasn’t a camera because I don’t necessarily like breaking rackets.’
The troubles started early for Gauff, a two-time Grand Slam champion, when she was broken four times in the first set and had five double faults.
Gauff, who had 26 unforced errors in the match, also said she thought it would be best to take her anger out alone instead of yelling at her staff.
‘I don’t want to lash out on my team. They’re good people. They don’t deserve that, and I know I’m emotional,’ Gauff said. ‘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.
“Otherwise, I’m just going to be snappy with the people around me, and I don’t want to do that because, like I said, they don’t deserve it. They did their best. I did mine. Just need to let the frustration out.’