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 18: The Australian Open men’s singles first round match was held at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne Park. Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz faced Australia’s Adam Walton.
1 / No. 17
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January 18: The Australian Open men’s singles first round match was held at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne Park. Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz faced Australia’s Adam Walton.
2 / No. 17
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January 18: Austria’s Anastasia Potapova faces Suzan Lamens of the Netherlands in the first round.
3 / No. 17
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January 18: Britain’s Emma Raducanu celebrates her win over Thailand’s Mananjaya Sawangkau during their Australian Open women’s singles first round match at Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne Park.
4 / No. 17
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On January 18, American player Sebastian Korda faced American player Michael Cheng in the first round of the Australian Tennis Open men’s singles.
5 / No. 17
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January 18: During the men’s singles first round match on the first day of the 2026 Australian Open, German player Alexander Zverev backhand against Canadian player Gabriel Diallo.
6 / No. 17
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January 18: Venus Williams reacts to a point scored by Olga Danilovic of Serbia during the women’s singles match on day one of the Australian Open in Melbourne.
7 / No. 17
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On January 18, American player Haley Baptiste played against American player Taylor Torsend during the first round of the women’s singles match at the Australian Open at Melbourne Park.
8 / No. 17
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January 18: Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez celebrates after defeating Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova in the first round.
9 / No. 17
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Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik faced American Jason Brooksby in the first round of the men’s singles.
10 / No. 17
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January 18: The first round of the men’s singles match at the Australian Open was held at the John Cain Stadium in Melbourne Park. American player Frances Tiafoe faced Australian player Jason Kubler.
11 / No. 17
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January 18: American Michael Cheng plays against American Sebastian Korda.
12 / No. 17
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Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk ices her ankle during her first-round match against France’s Elsa Jacquemott.
13 / No. 17
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January 18: French player Corentin Moutet faced Australian player Tristan Schucket in the men’s singles match on the first day.
14 / No. 17
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January 18: In the first round of men’s singles, Canadian player Gabriel Diallo faced German player Alexander Zverev.
15 / No. 17
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January 18: Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo serves to China’s Zhang Zhizhen on the first day of the men’s singles match.
16 / No. 17
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January 17: Australian player Ash Barty, Swiss player Roger Federer, Australian players Pat Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt and American player Andre Agassi were interviewed after the opening ceremony exhibition match of the 2026 Australian Open at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia.
No. 17 / No. 17
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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.”
