DON’T HATE THE PLAYER, HATE THE GAME: TENNIS GREATS KNOCKED OUT OF THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN

Written by on January 25, 2025

Written by: Nolwazi Zondi

Coco Gauff, Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek’s winning streak comes to an end as their journey at the Australian Open halts. Gauff lost in the quarter-finals to Paula Badosa in straight sets of 5-7 and 4-6 at the Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday. The world no. 3 was peaking throughout the year having had a 9 match winning streak.

The loss however, did not crush the Grand Slam winner but instead, with maturity in the sport, inspired her to be better. The 20-year-old stated, “The way I played, even though it wasn’t my best, I gave it my all ont he court, so that’s something to be proud of”, said Gauff.

“Maybe a couple years ago I would feel a lot more crushed and feel like the world is ending type sadness, but now I think it’s just disappointment, that I could have done a little bit better in some areas. Today I feel like I’m playing with solutions, even though I lost today, I feel like i’m in an upward trajectory.”

Gauff left the tournament with an optimistic spirit ready to get, ‘Back to work,’ as she captioned her post on Instagram. Later on, on Tuesday night Alcaraz was tamed by the vintage Novak Djokovic in a blockbuster quarter-final. The 24 Grand Slam champion thrashed the young Spaniard in the last 3 sets with a score of 4-6; 6-4; 6-3; and 6-4, despite having had a medical time-out after the first set.

The World No.3 failed to capitalize on the 10-time Melbourne Park winner stating, “Honestly I felt like I was controlling the match and I let him get into the match again. I’m going to say that was the biggest mistake that I made today. I had to push him a little bit more to the limit, and I didn’t.”

Taking the loss with Gauff’s optimism, Alcaraz stated with gratitude, “I’ve done great things in tennis already, but playing against one of the best in history of our sport, these kind of matches help me a lot in the future to be better.”

Moving onto the semi-finals, Swiatek just missed the grand finale after a nail biting defeat from the 19th seed Madison Keys on Thursday. The 5-time Grand Slam champion lost in the final two sets with a score of 7-5; 1-6 and 6-7. The American unleashed huge aces and saved a match point – knocking out the World No. 2.

“I guess at the end Madison was kind of brave with her decisions and she pushed me when she needed to. I would say I wasn’t feeling as free as in previous matches to also push in the important moments. I think if I keep working hard, I’ll have more chances in the future and maybe I’ll use them as I didn’t use my match point today,” said Swiatek.

The wait for the Melbourne crown continues for the above greats.


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