Emotions have been running high in the US Open singles tournament so far, and as a result, so has the drama. Not many will forget Daniil Medvedev’s showdown with the chair umpire during his first round loss yesterday, and while some could argue it’s better to take your anger out on your racket than the umpire, Elina Svitolina‘s first round exit wasn’t the most graceful of things, that’s for certain.

The Ukranian #12 seed Elina Svitolina just lost in her first round to the Hungarian Anna Bondar, the WTA’s 97th seed. Svitolina, who lost in two sets, 6-2, 6-4, did not take the outcome well, and before she arrived at the net for a handshake, she smashed her racket into smithereens. To be fair, Svitolina, who was once world No. 3, has had a tough month!

At the start of this month, Elina Svitolina lost in straight sets to Naomi Osaka at the National Bank Open quarterfinals. Following the defeat, she was bombarded with online hate, forcing the player to post a statement to her Instagram story: “To all the bettors: I’m a mum before I’m an athlete.” Svitolina wrote, “The way you talk to women — to mothers — is SHAMEFUL. If your mothers saw your messages, they’d be disgusted.”

With that in mind, it is no wonder that Elina Svitolina is carrying some extra baggage onto the court these days, though hopefully she can shed the weight of haters, and give her new racket some extra love! Svitolina stormed back onto the court scene in 2023 after embracing motherhood in 2022. Initially, she tasted success in Strasbourg. Her recent surge in form came this season at the AO, Indian Wells, Rome, and as recently as the French Open where she made deep runs.

But she didn’t have much luck at the grass court major at Wimbledon, where she made it till round 3 and subsequently, the North American hard court swing that followed. But Svitolina isn’t the only racket smasher in this year’s US Open.

Elina Svitolina’s reaction joins another memorable US Open racket smash

In fact, Elina Svitolina’s racket smashing seems almost demure in comparison to Daniil Medvedev’s outburst yesterday. Not only did Medvedev smash his racket, but he lost it with the chair umpire after Benjamin Bonzi was given a second shot at a first serve in the third set when a cameraman walked onto the court. “Are you a man? Are you a man? Why are you shaking? What’s wrong, huh?” Medvedev said to the umpire, before bringing up a previous incident Reilly Opelka had with the same umpire. In addition, Medvedev managed to get the entire stadium to stand and boo for five minutes straight, delaying the match by a total of six minutes. Finally, at the end, when he lost, he smashed his racket.

After the match, Medvedev didn’t seem to take much accountability for his actions, saying “So I just expressed my emotions, my unhappiness with the decision, and then the crowd did what they did without me asking them too much, and it was fun to witness.” He is now expected to face a large fine for his misconduct, and the entire incident certainly left a bad taste in everyone’s mouths.

So, all in all, everything is contextual. Many players have smashed rackets, including Roger Federer! Believe it or not. Djokovic is known to do it, so is Nick Kyrgios, and of course Serena Williams completely destroyed her racket once at the Australian Open. It is a passionate sport, and it takes that sort of passion to win, and if all Medvedev had done was smash his racket like Svitolina, then maybe things would have been different for him.

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