Coco Gauff has spunk, talent and she’s already won Grand Slam events and is the richest female athlete going right now. As soon as she gets out of her own head, she will probably become one of the greatest tennis players to ever grace the court.
Gauff’s biggest challenge to her tennis supremacy is usually the mental gymnastics she plays with herself during matches. It often leads to her having a slow start, then later locking in and dominating her opponent
When her plan doesn’t formulate, usually she can keep it together. That wasn’t the case following her straight-sets loss to Elina Svitolina during the Australian Open quarterfinals on Jan. 27.
Coco Gauff Says It’s Hard Being a Black Woman: Social Media Responds
Just days after raising eyebrows when she defended challenger Hailey Baptiste against a heckler and expressed how hard it was to be a “Black woman” in the world, Coco gave the crowd a racquet smash for the ages following her upset defeat. It quickly became the talk of social media.
Why Did Coco Gauff Smash Tennis Raquet In Hallway After Loss?
Maybe the racquet smash was a culmination of a deeper frustration. The emotion that made her defend her fellow Black opponent and reference Black women in her victory press conference.
After she said that, plenty of people on social media proved her right.
“Disgraceful behaviour, I’d have some sympathy if it was after the finals, but you can’t be doing that live on tv/behind the scenes She was simply awful tonight,” one fan said.
“Coco great name for a black woman,” said another fan with nothing to offer to the conversation.
“She’s the Sheduer Sanders of tennis. Not that good, but over covered because of racial motivations,” said another old white man.
‘Something was off with her,” said one fan, also suggesting that the stress of the week — including Gauff’s post-match defense of Baptiste and Black women in general as well as the backlash she received for that comment — affected the three-time Grand Slam winner’s performance.
“I tried to go somewhere where I thought there wasn’t a camera because I don’t necessarily like breaking rackets,” Coco, 21, explained to reporters during a press conference after the match. “I 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 US Open—I feel like they don’t need to broadcast.”
The clip was shared on X by TNT Sports. Coco can be seen walking behind a low wall following the match, before repeatedly smashing her tennis racquet on the ground. She was reacting to a pitiful performance for her standards in which she made 26 unforced errors, plus only scoring two points out of 11 on her second serve. She just didn’t have it.
Smashing Tennis Racquets Is Not Something Unique To Black Tennis Players
In addition, she isn’t the first tennis player to smash a racket. At least she waited until the match was over. Also, she has broken a racquet on the court before. The one issue Coco did with the Australian Open was the lack of privacy for tennis players once they leave the court. She purposely waited until she believed she was out of camera’s view to give her best John McEnroe impression.
RELATED: Serena Williams Claps Back At John McEnroe
Check out this video of the most epic tennis racquet smashes. Coco’s probably wouldn’t crack the top 10.
“I broke one racket [at the] French Open… and I said I would never do it again on court because I don’t feel like that’s a good representation,” she explained. “But, yeah, I tried to go somewhere where they wouldn’t broadcast it, but obviously they did, so yeah, maybe some conversations can be had because I feel like at this tournament, the only private place we have is the locker room.”
Coco Admits To Being Emotional: Didn’t Want To Lash Out At Her Team
Coco also acknowledged that while her actions weren’t necessarily providing a positive example for younger children, she needed some way to express her frustrations.
“I know myself and I don’t want to lash out at my team,” she explained. “I know I’m emotional, so yeah, I just took the minute to go and do that.”
The athlete added, “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 otherwise I’m just gonna be snappy with the people around me and I don’t want to do that… I just need to let the frustration out.”
