Coco Gauff smashes her racquet moments after leaving the court as world No3 loses Australian Open quarter-final against Ukrainian star Elina Svitolina in just 59 MINUTES

Coco Gauff channeled her fury after losing her Australian Open quarter-final into repeatedly smashing her racquet in the tunnel just moments after stepping off court on Rod Laver Arena. 

The world No 3 came into the contest Down Under as the higher-ranked favourite but was blown out of the water by Ukrainian star Elina Svitolina. 

In a contest lasting just 59 minutes, the American No 1 was torn apart in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2, with Gauff’s tensions bubbling over after making her muted exit from Melbourne’s biggest show court. 

Trailed by cameras, the 21-year-old had to wait for the peace of the dressing room, with footage of her brief meltdown beamed around the world. 

Jamie Murray was among those sympathetic to the former US Open champion’s actions, saying on TNT Sports: ‘A very disappointing performance from Coco. Rightfully took it out on the racket at the end of that.’ 

‘Not that we advocate this,’ co-pundit and former British No 1 Laura Robson added. ‘Do you think that she could have chucked the racket on the court to release some tension?’

‘It could sort of kick start you into action,’ Tim Henman argued. ‘I think that she was playing so badly and this result hasn’t come overnight and we know that she’s been struggling. 

‘There’s so much focus and attention. And I think we all sympathise with Coco because she is such a great competitor. 

‘To get through to the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam and have a match like this – that must do damage mentally and there has to be some scar tissue and you can’t just sort of say: ‘Oh, we’ll forget about that and we’ll move on…’

‘She hit three winners and 26 unforced errors in the match and that is impossible to compete at any level. It was hardly surprising to see her frustrating at the end…’

Gauff’s attempt at a private venting of her spleen was redolent of scenes involving world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka after defeat to Gauff herself at the 2023 US Open final. 

The Belarusian star was captured by cameras in the locker room smashing her racquet out of shape before calmly chucking her broken weapon in a large rubbish bin. 

Gauff’s route to the quarter-finals had not been without issue, with the French Open champion needing all three sets to bypass third-round opponent Hailey Baptiste, and Karolina Muchova in the round-of-16. 

Svitolina meanwhile has been scything through the opposition, and with her win against Gauff breaks into the top 10. 

The former world No 3 has not occupied the upper echelons of the WTA rankings since before she stepped away from the sport ahead of the birth of her first child with fellow player Gael Monfils, daughter Skai, in 2022.

The 31-year-old returned to the tour in 2023, and has since made the quarter-finals at the French Open twice, and the 2023 Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time. 

‘It means the world to me,’ Svitolina said on-court when asked what it meant to her to compete two years after giving birth. ‘Of course I try to push myself. 

‘I try to give myself this motivation to continue. Very pleased with the performance at this tournament in Australia. 

‘Overall it’s been a good trip for me. Really happy to go through to the semifinal.’ 

‘We all have bad days at the office, but I think in the context of being the favourite going into that match, she’s a Grand Slam champion, she’s won the French Open, she’s won the US Open, she’s three in the world,’ Henman added. 

‘A shocking performance – there’s no two ways really about it. Svitolina just took advantage, but when you get the top player who can really only kick that first serve in, she was serving at 125km an hour and then making so many mistakes from the back of the court – you know your assets of your game have just been completely stripped apart in front of our eyes. So that was pretty tough to watch.’