Coco Gauff has suffered a shock exit at the Australian Open, losing to Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals.
Gauff destroyed her racket immediately after the defeat at Rod Laver Arena, where she lost to Svitolina in just 59 minutes.
The Ukrainian beat the American 6-1, 6-2, and has now set up an Australian Open semifinal with two-time champion Aryna Sabalenka.
WTA number one and top seed Sabalenka defeated Gauff’s fellow American Iva Jovic 6-3, 6-0 in their quarterfinal clash.
Are you worried about Coco Gauff in 2026?
Coco Gauff wants to win on bad days like Serena Williams
Gauff has since discussed her exit, having been asked if the loss to Svitolina will be erased from her memory or analysed, and indeed how she rates her level at the Australian Open.
She said: “Yeah. I don’t know. I don’t have the answer to that question right now. I mean, immediately after I was analyzing, just looking at the stats.
“70% of first serves in. 40% of that won. That’s something I think that cannot happen for me in the future.
“But obviously, yeah, it’s one of those days I’m not going to think about this, like, the next time I play a match, but also, I need to, I guess, learn from the experience on the mental standpoint of when things are going wrong how to better respond to that.
“I felt like my match also at United Cup was very similar where it was not a good day for me, and I didn’t figure it out.
“I got lucky to scrap that second set out. So I just need to figure out the maybe three things that I just need to focus on when I feel like I’m not feeling my best, because it will happen again.
“I mean, it’s two weeks. Some players play well two weeks for the whole time, but there was many matches watching Serena [Williams] play that she would play bad and be able to scrap those out and win the title. I just need to figure out how to get through those bad days.”
What has been the biggest upset at the Australian Open so far?
Coco Gauff will bounce back from Australian Open humbling
Williams was indeed a master at grinding out victories despite not being at her best, which has also been a common theme for Gauff.
But that mental strength, which has helped her to countless victories in her career, simply wasn’t present against Svitolina.
She is, however, only 21 years old, and so her mental strength should only get better with more time and more matches.
This does have the potential to be a very damaging defeat, particularly given the stakes and the stage of the season, but Gauff certainly has what it takes to bounce back.
Receive exclusive tennis news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
