*This content was translated by AI.
U.S. "Tennis Empress" Coco Goff (22) was seen smashing her racket after a shocking defeat.
Britain's "The Sun" reported on the 27th (local time) that "CCTV caught Goff destroying his racket in the hallway shortly after his worst Grand Slam defeat in seven years."
Goff lost to Elina Svitolina (1-6, 2-6) of Ukraine in the quarterfinals of the women's singles at the 2026 Australian Open tennis tournament at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia. The game time is only 59 minutes. It was a humiliating result for Goff, who was the world's No. 3 and a strong favorite.
According to the media, Goff expressed his anger in a hallway where no one was present after leaving the stadium. Goff, who was traveling alone without a bodyguard or coach, smashed his racket hard on the floor as many as seven times and shattered it. This unexpected behavior was even more shocking because he was Goff, who usually kept calm on the court.
The defeat left Goff with a painful record. In terms of game score, it is the lowest performance since the crushing defeat (3-6, 0-6), which was suffered by Naomi Osaka during the 2019 U.S. Open. The match time was shorter than the 68 minutes of the 2022 French Open final (against Civiontech).
British tennis legend and commentator Tim Henman said on TNT Sports, "Goff was a Grand Slam champion and a favorite to win the tournament, but today's performance was a shock itself."
Meanwhile, veteran Svitolina, who beat Goff to reach the semifinals of the Australian Open for the first time after 13 attempts, will face world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) in the semifinals.
However, the meeting between the two players is expected to be tense outside the game. Svitolina has refused to shake hands with Russia, which invaded Ukraine, and Belarusian nationals who have aligned them. There will be no handshake in front of the net after the match.
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*This content was translated by AI.
