Coco Gauff has suggested “conversations” on player privacy at the Australian Open are needed after she smashed a racket in a place she thought was private — and saw it broadcast to the world.
After her 6-1, 6-2 quarterfinal loss to Elina Svitolina on Rod Laver Arena, Gauff went in search of a private spot in the catacombs of the stadium then smashed one of her lavender Head rackets on the ground, dashing it seven times.
But there just aren’t many private spots in the player areas of the Australian Open, the tournament that turned tennis into something like an Andy Warhol film.
Cameras are everywhere — in the parking lot, the gym, the hallways. Melbourne Park is not a video safe space for a player in the way Wimbledon and the French Open are. Gauff said:
💬 “I kind of have a thing with the broadcast. I feel like certain moments… they don’t need to broadcast.”
Aryna Sabalenka, like Gauff on Tuesday night, broke her racket thinking no one was watching. They were.
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