The only thing getting broken with more conviction than Coco Gauff’s serve was her racket.
Gauff lost to Elina Svitolina 6-1, 6-2 in just 59 minutes during quarterfinal action at the Australian Open on Tuesday night. The third-ranked American double-faulted five times without hitting a single ace. She won a shocking 41 percent of the points even when she put her first serve in play and was a hopeless 2-for-11 on second-serve points.
Immediately after exiting the court, Gauff took out her frustration on her racket.
“I think I played well,” Svitolina understated. “As Coco is such a great champion, you know, she came back couple of times in our matches being one set down. For me, I tried to keep building, keep trying to play well and tried to really stay focused from the start until the end.”
Gauff agreed.
“She played really well,” Gauff said. “Usually when people raise their level, I’m able to raise mine — and today I just didn’t do that. I just felt like all the things I do well, I just wasn’t doing well today. The backhand wasn’t firing; rorehand wasn’t really firing. Returns. There was just a lot that didn’t go well today.
“I credit it to her because she forced me to play like that. Yeah, today was a bad day — but bad days are often caused by your opponent. So she did well.”
On the men’s side, Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz advanced to the semifinals. Zverev held off Learner Tien 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-1, 7-6(3) before Alcaraz routed Alex de Minaur 7-5, 6-2, 6-1.
tough one
Never thought of Coco as a player that would be like that 🫣
She’s a little Serena. Pristine aura on the outside, uglier actually in reality than media portrays.
breaking a racket is hardly a big deal
Yes. Not sure what all the fuss is about. She did credit Svito for playing very well so kudos to her for that…
Yeah not the first and won’t be the last no biggie