Gauff says ‘certain moments’ shouldn’t be broadcast as camera catches her smashing a racquet

Coco Gauff’s bid for a third grand slam title went up in smoke at the Australian Open quarter-finals with a 1-6, 2-6 defeat at the hands of Ukrainian Elina Svitolina in under an hour after the third seed endured a nightmare on serve.

And capping off the horror show for the US star, vision soon emerged from the bowels of Rod Laver Arena of Gauff repeatedly smashing a racquet on a concrete ramp in frustration.

Given the cameras throughout the venue, it was hardly a private moment for Gauff, who later said such incidents didn’t need to be broadcast.

“Certain moments — the same thing happened to Aryna [Sabalenka] after I played her in the final of the US Open — I feel like they don’t need to broadcast,” Gauff said in her post-match press conference.

“I tried to go somewhere where I thought there wasn’t a camera because I don’t necessarily like breaking racquets.

“I broke one racquet [at the] 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. So, yeah, maybe some conversations can be had.”

Gauff said she felt it was better to shatter a racquet than to take out any frustrations on her support team.

“They’re good people. They don’t deserve that, and I know I’m emotional,” Gauff said. “So, yeah, I just took the minute to go and do that.

“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.”

Tuesday’s stunning result meant 12th seed Svitolina marched into the semi-finals at Melbourne Park for the first time in her career, after three previous quarter-final finishes, keeping alive the 31-year-old’s hopes of a maiden major title.

Svitolina will also return to the top 10 in the world when the updated rankings are released next Monday, a reward for her consistency after giving birth to her daughter with fellow tennis player Gael Monfils in late 2022.

“I’m very pleased with the tournament so far, it has always been my dream to come back here after maternity leave. It was my dream to come back into the top 10,” Svitolina said.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t happen last year – I stopped after September and then when we were training and during off-season I told my coach, ‘I want to come back into top 10’, so this was my goal for this year.”

Gauff’s service woes came to the fore early in the clash as she made five double faults and was broken four times, allowing the aggressive Svitolina to take full advantage and grab the opening set in quick time.

Desperate to arrest her slide, the American sent a bunch of racquets to be re-strung for cooler conditions under the roof after organisers earlier invoked their extreme heat policy on a scorching afternoon.

Svitolina raced to a 3-0 lead in the second set before Gauff was able to get on board with a couple of holds, but there was no stopping the Ukrainian, who eased to victory and set up a clash with top seed Aryna Sabalenka.

“It means the world to me,” Svitolina said.

“I’ll try to push myself, try to give myself this motivation to continue. It’s been a good trip.”
- Reuters, AP

‘Trophy or nothing’: Forget the bling, the endorsements and the millions, Aryna only cares for one thing

Michael Gleeson

Aryna Sabalenka lost the final here at the Australian Open last year, but few remember that. Sabalenka is sure no one can recall it.

But she remembers, and it is an itch she needs to scratch this year. She is of the “if you’re not first you’re last”, Talladega Nights school of sporting philosophy – and she doesn’t want to lose again.

“I think when you get to the point of finals, it’s trophy or nothing,” she said. “Nobody remembers the finalist. Nobody puts next to the winner [the] finalist name.

“At this point, yeah, I go for titles. Of course, I have to be proud of myself with the finals; three finals in a row. That’s something crazy. I hope that next year I’ll come back as a better player, and I’ll hold Daphne (the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup) one more time.”

Sabalenka has career on-court earnings of more than $US45 million – a figure that will nudge $US50m by tournament’s end. She picked up another guaranteed $1.25m on Tuesday by beating teenager Iva Jovic in straight sets. Should she make the final here again, she’ll pocket $2.15m.

None of that counts the moolah she gets from the Gucci deal she announced last week, her Emirates sponsorship, the kit and cash from Nike, the arrangement to wear Material Good diamond jewellery or the Audemars Piguet watches she wears that are worth up to $250,000 each.

No, the extra two mill’ for the winner’s $4.15m pay cheque is unlikely to be what’s driving her.

After beating Jovic in straight sets 6-3, 6-0, she slightly moderated her definition of success in as much as she hinted she was just the one who said the quiet bit out loud.“I think every player when they get to the tournament is [thinking] trophy or nothing. The mentality is the same, and it’s always in the back of your mind that obviously you want to win it,” Sabalenka said.

“But I’m trying to shift my focus on the right things and taking it step by step, and just trying my best in each match, each point, each game, each set. That’s my mentality.”

In the match against Jovic, Sabalenka played like each point couldn’t come quickly enough. Doubtless this was also a concession to the heat and a desire to get off the court as quickly as she could.

As it was, the match finished in straight sets. But if it had gone another set, the roof would have been closed and a longer break would’ve been taken.

“At the end of the match, it was really hot out there. I’m glad they kind of closed the roof almost halfway so we had a lot of shade in the back so we could go back and stay in the shade,” she said.

“But it was hot out there. I guess as a woman, we are stronger than the guys, so they had to close the roof for the guys so they don’t suffer, you know,” she added with a hearty laugh.

“I knew going into this match, that they won’t let us play in crazy heat. If it would reach the five (the heat scale for activating the next stage of the extreme heat policy) they would definitely close the roof, so I knew that they were protecting us; our health.

“When we finished it was 4.4 (the heat scale), so it was quite hot. It’s OK. I’m happy that I managed.”

Sabalenka did well to manage a swift result in what was a deceptively close match.

OK, yes, Jovic didn’t win a game in the second set, but the contest was closer than that.

Serving for the first set, Sabalenka had to hold out three break points from the undaunted 18-year-old and was denied on a couple of set points by the teen, who was the youngest American to make the quarters here since Venus Williams in 1998.

For a better sense of how fast Jovic’s star is rising, consider that she has now reached the quarter- finals of all three tournaments to open her 2026 season, becoming the youngest player to do so since Maria Sharapova in 2005.

She will be very good. But on this day, the difference in maturity and strength was telling.

“These teenagers [are] testing me in the last couple of rounds,” Sabalenka said on court after her win.

“This was a tough match. Don’t look at the score, she pushed me.”

In the semi-finals, Sabalenka will play whoever wins Tuesday night’s match between Coco Gauff and Elina Svitolina. But, shh, no one will remember that unless she reunites with the Daphne Akhurst Cup on Saturday night.

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