Coco Guaff slams decision to broadcast astonishing Australian Open meltdown

Coco Gauff thought nobody was watching when she let out her frustrations following her defeat at the Australian Open (Picture: TNT Sport) Coco Gauff has criticised the decision to broadcast her emotional outburst following a heavy defeat against Elina Svitolina at the Australian Open. The 21-year-old produced an error-strewn display that led to a comprehensive 6-1, 6-2 loss and prompted a furious response from the American. After she had left the court Guaff let out her frustrations by repeatedly smashing her racket on the concrete floor. The third seed had assumed she had found a private corner of the stadium complex, but the cameras picked up on a shocking outburst which quickly went viral on social media. ‘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, said Gauff in her post-match news conference. ‘I tried to go somewhere where I thought there wasn’t a camera because I don’t necessarily like breaking rackets. ‘I broke one racket (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.’ Coco Gauff releases her frustrations after a disappointing defeat in the Australian Open quarter-finals 💥 pic.twitter.com/4Ur9jlxR0P— TNT Sports (@tntsports) January 27, 2026 Asked whether she was setting a good example by letting her emotions out in such a dramatic fashion, Gauff added: ‘I think for me, I know myself. I don’t want to lash out on my team. ‘They’re good people. They don’t deserve that. I know I’m emotional. I just took the minute to go and do that. ‘I don’t think it’s a bad thing. 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. Coco Gauff made 26 unforced errors (Picture: Getty) ‘I don’t want to do that. Like I said they don’t deserve it. They did their best. I did mine. Just need to let the frustration out.’ Gauff struggled on her own serve and made a staggering 26 unforced errors over the course of a one-sided contest but still took time to praise the performance of her opponent. She said: ‘I credit it to her. She forced me to play like that. It’s not like I just woke up and… yeah today was a bad day… But bad days are often caused by your opponents.’ Svitolina, meanwhile, will 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.’