Coco Gauff has criticised the lack of privacy at the Australian Open and said conversations need to be had about the behind the scenes cameras.
The American had an atrocious outing in the Australian Open quarter-finals as she only won three games against Elina Svitolina.
Gauff never brought her best tennis as the wait goes on for a title in Melbourne for the two-time Grand Slam champion.
After the match Gauff explained her frustrations with her level in the contest, “I mean, honestly, like the first set, after that I was still optimistic. I played two three-setters already this week,” Gauff stated in her press conference.
“Yeah, I just felt like, okay, obviously you want to win the first set when you’re in a quarterfinal in general, but I couldn’t change that, so I felt like emotionally, I think it was just frustration, and it showed. I tried my best to be positive, but I just felt like nothing for me at the moment was working.
“Yeah, that’s a bit frustrating when you are out there and you feel like your strengths aren’t really doing their thing.”
It wasn’t just her level that was frustrating Gauff as the American didn’t look like she found the right tension on her racket with the roof on for the contest.
After the match Gauff cleared up the situation with her racket tension and admitted it was no excuse for defeat, “I mean, it wasn’t a miscalculation,” Gauff said.
“I was playing with the tension that I normally use, and obviously today was a bit weird trying to figure out how I wanted to be strung, because I found out the roof would be closed a little bit later. I mean, I figured it would be closed, but you just don’t know. I hadn’t played with the roof closed, so I didn’t know. I felt like the ball was slower.
“Obviously I’ve been playing mainly day and with the roof open and hot conditions, so I felt I needed to go lower. But it wasn’t a miscalculation. I don’t think that’s the reason why I lost today. I’m not picky with the racquets. It was just something that, okay, I’m not feeling great. What can I change that’s in my control, and the tension is one of those things that I just thought that maybe I could change it and it would help.
“But, yeah, I don’t think that was a reason as to why I was playing like today.”
Speaking of rackets, Gauff was caught on camera smashing a racket after the match in the backstage area.
There are loads of cameras in player areas at the Australian Open and US Open with player privacy being a fierce talking point.
Speaking about the incident Gauff admitted she wanted to avoid the cameras and believe conversations need to be had about protecting player privacy, “I tried to go somewhere where there was no cameras,” Gauff acknowledged to journalists.
“I kind of have a thing with the broadcast. I feel like certain moments — the same thing happened to Aryna after I played her in final of US Open. I feel like they don’t need to broadcast. I tried to go somewhere where I thought there wasn’t a camera, because I don’t necessarily like breaking racquets, but I lost 1 and 2. I broke one racquet on quarters, I think, or round of 16 of 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.
“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.”
Despite a disappointing performance, Gauff can be proud of her tournament and is finding the positives in what she can take from Melbourne, “I think it is a step in the right direction. Yeah, I feel like there’s definitely positives I can take, especially in my last match against Karolina,” Gauff analysed.
“I feel like that moment was definitely a game I would usually throw in some doubles. So there are positives to take. Is my serve where I want it to be? No. Like, I definitely served well in some matches, but I feel like today it’s one of those shots that I would like to be the shot to get me out of trouble. But, yeah, I definitely can look back at this tournament and say that it has improved. I hope that the trend can continue upward. I definitely feel like we’re working on the right things.
“The focus was making the second more reliable, which it definitely is more reliable, but obviously I want to just continue that and then make the first serve a bit more aggressive, which I did use it in moments in my previous matches, but I think more on a consistent basis.”
