Coco Gauff smashes racket in frustration after Australian Open loss
Rebecca French
Coco Gauff was on the court for about an hour during her Australian Open quarterfinal loss to Elina Svitolina on Tuesday, January 27.
Usually, when a player spends so much time on the court during a game, it doesn’t bode well for the player who ends up losing the game. That’s exactly what happened to Gauff, the tournament’s third seed, who was defeated by Svitolina 6-1, 6-2 in just 59 minutes.
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No. 12 seed Svitolina is still seeking her first Grand Slam title and will face No. 1 Sabalenka in the semi-finals
After the game, Gauff left Rod Laver Arena and headed to the locker room, where her frustration boiled over and she could be seen on camera smashing her racket to the floor.
“There were moments — after I played Alina[Sabalenka]in the U.S. Open final and the same thing happened to her — where I felt like they didn’t need to broadcast it,” Gauff said after the match. “I tried to go to a place where I thought there wouldn’t be cameras because I don’t necessarily like breaking rackets.”
The trouble started early for two-time Grand Slam champion Gauff, who was broken four times and double-faulted five times in the first set.
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Gauff, who committed 26 unforced errors in the game, also said she thought it was best to vent her anger on her own rather than yell at staff.
“I don’t want to bash my team. They’re good people. They don’t deserve to be treated like this, and I know I’m emotional,” Goff said. “I just took a little time to do it. I don’t think it’s a bad thing. Like I said, I wouldn’t try to do it on the field in front of the kids or anything like that, but I did know I needed to get that emotion out.
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January 17: Swiss Roger Federer (left) and American Andre Agassi laugh during the opening ceremony of the 2026 Australian Open at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia.
“Otherwise, I’m just going to get mad at the people around me, which I don’t want to do because like I said, they don’t deserve it. They tried their best. I did mine. Just needed to vent the frustration.”
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