Coco Gauff is out of the Australian Open after a heavy loss to Elina Svitolina.
Gauff’s run up to the quarterfinals had seen her pick up wins over Karolina Muchova, Hailey Baptiste and Olga Danilovic.
Despite the positive results, she had been struggling with her serve throughout the tournament.
That weakness was on full display against Svitolina. The 21-year-old American managed to win just 35% of her service points, which made it tough for her to build any momentum during the match.
Following her swift 59-minute defeat to the Ukrainian star at the Australian Open, Gauff was observed smashing her racquet off-court. She has since offered an explanation for her decision to do so privately rather than on court.
Coco Gauff asks for more player privacy after incident caught on camera
After her 6-1, 6-2 defeat to Svitolina, Gauff was filmed smashing her racquet in frustration near Rod Laver Arena.
Even though she went out of her way to find a spot away from the court to let off steam, cameras still captured the moment.
Speaking in her post-match press conference, the two-time Grand Slam champion said she chose not to break the racquet on court because she did not want to set a poor example for young fans.
Gauff referenced a similar incident involving Aryna Sabalenka after their US Open final, suggesting that these moments should not always be shown on broadcast.
“Yeah, I tried to go somewhere where there was no cameras,” she stated.
The 21-year-old then added after another question: “Yeah, I kind of have a thing with the broadcast. I feel like certain moments – the same thing happened to Aryna after I played her in final of US Open. I feel like they don’t need to broadcast.
“I tried to go somewhere where I thought there wasn’t a camera, because I don’t necessarily like breaking racquets, but I lost 1 and 2. I broke one racquet on quarters, I think, or round of 16 of 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.
“But yeah, I tried to go somewhere where they wouldn’t broadcast it, but obviously they did. So, yeah, maybe some conversations can be had, because I feel like at this tournament the only private place we have is the locker room.”
“Yeah, definitely. I think for me, I know myself, and I don’t want to lash out on my team,” explained Gauff. “They’re good people. They don’t deserve that, and I know I’m emotional.
“So, yeah, I just took the minute to go and do that. Yeah, 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.”
Why Coco Gauff made the call to change racquet tension during her match
Gauff did not want to blame her team for the loss, but she was clearly frustrated with her racquet early in the match. She even asked her coaches during the first set to bring her a new racquet strung at a lower tension.
When asked if she had misjudged the conditions, the 21-year-old pushed back and said it was not a mistake and that it did not play any role in why she came up short against Svitolina.
“Yeah, I mean, it wasn’t a miscalculation. I was playing with the tension that I normally use, and obviously today was a bit weird trying to figure out how I wanted to be strung, because I found out the roof would be closed a little bit later,” she began by saying.
“I mean, I figured it would be closed, but you just don’t know. I hadn’t played with the roof closed, so I didn’t know. I felt like the ball was slower.
“Obviously I’ve been playing mainly day and with the roof open and hot conditions, so I felt I needed to go lower. But it wasn’t a miscalculation. I don’t think that’s the reason why I lost today. I’m not picky with the racquets.
“It was just something that, okay, I’m not feeling great. What can I change that’s in my control, and the tension is one of those things that I just thought that maybe I could change it and it would help. But, yeah, I don’t think that was a reason as to why I was playing like today.”
This is now back-to-back quarterfinal exits for Gauff at Melbourne Park. The loss means she will lose her spot as American number one to either Amanda Anisimova or Jessica Pegula following their last-eight match in Melbourne.
The 19-year-old will now take some time away from competition before heading into back-to-back WTA 1000 events in Doha and Dubai later this season.
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