Coco Gauff hits back at Australian Open broadcasters after footage of racquet smash after quarter-final loss goes viral

American tennis star Coco Gauff was furious with herself after crashing out of the Australian Open in the quarter-finals, losing to Elina Svitolina in straight sets on Tuesday. Gauff, who had won the French Open last year after beating Aryna Sabalenka in the final, bowed out of the season's first Grand Slam after an error-strewn game against the Ukrainian that lasted just an hour and resulted in a 6-1 6-2 defeat.

And after her defeat, in which she had committed five double-faults and 26 unforced errors, Gauff was seen angrily smashing her racquet – not on the court, as is common in the sport, but behind the scenes in the players' area.

Despite the fact that Gauff did not unleash her rage in front of spectators and waited until she was away from public view, footage of her racquet smash went viral on social media, with the broadcast crew appearing to have followed her inside and kept their camera fixed on her.

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'Certain moments don't need to be broadcast'

Gauff, however, slammed the tournament organisers over what she deems to be a breach of her privacy, citing a similar incident involving Sabalenka. The Belarusian, currently No 1 in the WTA rankings, had expressed similar emotions after her defeat against Gauff in the 2023 US Open final.

"I tried to go somewhere where there was no cameras," Gauff told reporters on Tuesday. "Certain moments - the same thing happened to Aryna after I played her in the US Open final - I feel like they don't need to broadcast.

"Maybe some conversations can be had, because I feel like, at this tournament, the only private place we have is the locker room," she added.

Svitolina incidentally, faces two-time champion Sabalenka in the semi-finals later this week, the latter having registered a dominant 6-3 6-0 victory over teenager Iva Jovic on Tuesday.