"If you're getting really frustrated, and she was getting her ass kicked": Pat Rafter says Coco Gauff letting out frustration isn't always a bad thing

The talk of the town in recent days has been centred around the players privacy behind the scenes after Coco Gauff was filmed trying to go somewhere quiet before smashing her racket into the ground. Players have stated their case, with two-time Grand Slam champion Pat Rafter explaining that there already is a private place: the locker room.

Gauff completed this task after an abysmal performance in a 6-1, 6-2 defeat to Elina Svitolina in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open. Her serve was getting pounced upon once more, while a wayward forehand saw her usually very high level fall off as she struggled to get into the match.

Afterwards, in her fury and frustration she walked off backstage to find what she thought was a place to let out a little steam, taking it out on her racket which took a full brunt of a Gauff hammering. It was broadcasted on TVs around the world before it went very viral online over social media.

She talked about it in her press conference. "I have a thing (issue) with the broadcast," she stated. "I tried to go somewhere where I thought there wasn't a camera, because I don't like breaking racquets. I went somewhere where I thought they wouldn't broadcast it, but obviously they did. Maybe some conversations can be had."

Not only her, but world number two Iga Swiatek was also quick to share her opinion on this situation. "The question is, are we tennis players...or are we animals in the zoo where they are observed even when they poop, you know? OK, that was exaggerating obviously, but it would be nice to have some privacy."

The former world number one called for the players to be smarter, and find somewhere where there are no cameras being on show. "Well, there is a safe space... and that's your locker room if you want to unload," he said on Nova FM's Jase & Lauren show on Thursday. "They can't really have cameras in there, can they?"

Not that smashing a racket was a bad thing through the eyes of the Aussie, who believed it was a great way of letting out frustration and anger. "I (actually) said to one of the players that it's fine to let the emotion out on the court too," he said. "Because if you're getting really frustrated, and she (Gauff) was getting her ass kicked...she just couldn't find a way back in...then let that frustration out. Sometimes, at the end of the first set, just demolish (a racquet) and then it just clears everything."

While it was a good method, doing it all the time was not the best option. "For me (in my career), it was a reset," he described it as. "If you continually keep smashing your racket as the sets go along, that's not great, but it's about getting the anger out."

It is not an uncommon thing to see players smash their rackets within the premises of the court, even on it as they sometimes lose control over their anger and it spills for the world to see. Gauff bottled in her anger in her quarter-final match, with it in dire need to let it spill. The reason she did not do it on court was because she does not want to set a bad example for the younger generation, thus why she tried to hide it somewhere secretive. Now, this has led to another debacle, in which the players are trying to fight for their privacy.