Sports stars, ‘sacred spaces’, and an increasingly bitter battle for privacy
Sports stars, ‘sacred spaces’, and an increasingly bitter battle for privacy
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7032924/2026/02/11/coco-gauff-tennis-privacy-cameras/
Publish Date: 2026-02-11 00:15:00
Source Domain: www.nytimes.com
Coco Gauff could feel it brewing. As she collected her bags and made her way off court after being thoroughly beaten by her Australian Open quarter-final opponent, Elina Svitolina, in just 59 minutes, her insides fizzed with frustration.
The 21-year-old made it through the tunnel that leads the players onto court and veered left, onto a concrete ramp positioned behind a low wall. Once there, she launched an all-out assault on her racket, slamming it into the ground seven times in quick succession, completely unaware that her every move had been filmed and would swiftly be watched — and judged — by millions across television and social media.
“I tried to go somewhere where there were no cameras,” Gauff told reporters shortly afterwards. “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 the U.S. Open — I feel like they don’t need to broadcast.”
Gauff’s stance was echoed by fellow WTA Tour players Amanda Anisimova, Jessica Pegula and Iga Swiatek, who only half-jokingly asked: “Are we tennis players or are we animals in the zoo where they are observed even when they poop?”
Male players joined the chorus of dissent. Novak Djokovic, the 24-time Grand Slam winner and finalist in Melbourne, said it was “sad that you can’t move away anywhere and hide and fume out your frustration. But we live… in times where content is everything”.
Novak Djokovic shares Coco Gauff’s concerns about privacy (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)
At the Australian Open, footage from the players’ zone at Rod Laver Arena has been shown since 2019. That includes the player gym, warm-up area, and the corridor leading out from the locker room.
Australian Open organisers argue that broadcast cameras are in the areas where players are preparing for their job; where they are warming up and cooling down, arriving to and from court, moving to and from the media centre. They…
