Coco Gauff criticizes lack of privacy at Australian Open after racket smash caught on camera
Coco Gauff criticizes lack of privacy at Australian Open after racket smash caught on camera
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7001272/2026/01/27/coco-gauff-racket-smash-australian-open-cameras/
Publish Date: 2026-01-27 06:09:00
Source Domain: www.nytimes.com
MELBOURNE, Australia — Coco Gauff has suggested “conversations” on player privacy at the Australian Open after she smashed a racket in a place she thought was private — and saw it broadcast to the world.
After her 6-1, 6-2 quarterfinal loss to Elina Svitolina on Rod Laver Arena, Gauff decided she needed to do something she doesn’t do very often, and she decided to try to do it behind closed doors. After going in search of a private spot in the catacombs of the stadium, she smashed one of her lavender Head rackets on the ground, dashing it seven times.
But there just aren’t many private spots in the player areas of the Australian Open, the tournament that turned tennis into something like an Andy Warhol film.
Cameras are everywhere — in the parking lot, the gym, the hallways. Melbourne Park is not a video safe space for a player in the way Wimbledon and the French Open are.
“I kind of have a thing with the broadcast. I feel like certain moments — the same thing happened to Aryna (Sabalenka) after I played her in the final of U.S. Open (in 2023) I feel like they don’t need to broadcast,” she said. Sabalenka, like Gauff Tuesday night, broke her racket thinking no one was watching. They were.
Coco Gauff releases her frustrations after a disappointing defeat in the Australian Open quarter-finals 💥 pic.twitter.com/4Ur9jlxR0P
— TNT Sports (@tntsports) January 27, 2026
A tournament spokesperson did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
Tennis is a frustrating sport for players of all levels. Seeing one of the best players in the world react like a weekend warrior at the local park is irresistible eye-candy and endlessly relatable. The racket smash has become something of an art form, with different practitioners finding sometimes creative ways to put carbon fibre and polyester to the sword.
Gauff doesn’t like that. She said she broke a racket on court at the French Open once and swore she would never do it again. She hasn’t, and so…
