WATCH: Tennis Star Coco Gauff Smashes Racket in Frustration After Upset Loss in Australian Open

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American tennis star Coco Gauff was seen smashing her racket as frustration boiled over after an upset loss at the Australian Open.

Gauff, currently ranked third in the world among female tennis players, took on 12th-ranked Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in the quarterfinal round of the Australian Open on Tuesday. While the upset was surprising enough, Gauff’s poor performance in the match was even more of a shock.

Svitolina won in dominating fashion, taking the match in straight sets to advance to the semifinals. Through those two sets, Gauff won just three total games to Svitolina’s 12.

Naturally, that kind of loss would be incredibly frustrating for a player viewed as a serious contender in every major tournament. After walking off the court and out of view of the spectators, Goff let that frustration out by smashing her racket on the ground. She continued on her way to the locker room when she was done. A stadium camera captured the incident.

During her post-match press conference, Gauff was asked about the outburst. She explained that it was simply a way to get the anger out of her system to avoid taking it out on those around her.

“I think for me, I know myself and I don’t want to lash out on my team,” Goff told the press. “They’re good people. They don’t deserve that. And I know I’m emotional. So, yeah, I just took the minute to go and do that.

And yeah, I don’t think it’s a bad thing. Like I said, 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 going to be snappy with the people around me. And I don’t want to do that, because like I said, they don’t deserve it. They did their best. I did mine. Just need to let the frustration out.”

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