{"id":439749,"date":"2026-01-29T00:40:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T00:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/439749\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T00:40:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T00:40:07","slug":"are-tennis-players-being-treated-like-zoo-animals-iga-swiatek-thinks-so","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/439749\/","title":{"rendered":"Are tennis players being treated like zoo animals? Iga Swiatek thinks so"},"content":{"rendered":"

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) \u2014 Iga Swiatek picked up a privacy theme that Coco Gauff left the Australian Open with after the 21-year-old American’s racket-smashing, frustration-releasing moments<\/a> away from the court went viral.<\/p>\n

Gauff said \u201cmaybe conversations can be had\u201d about the seemingly limitless access-all-areas cameras that track players from the locker room to the court and just about everywhere in between.<\/p>\n

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After her 7-5, 6-1 quarterfinal loss to fifth-seeded Elena Rybakina on Wednesday, Swiatek was asked how she feels about the lack of off-camera areas for the players and what she thinks should be the balance between constant content and player privacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, the question is, are we tennis players, or are we, like, animals in the zoo where they are observed even when they poop, you know?\u201d she said, apologizing for the latter reference. \u201cOK, that was exaggerating obviously, but it would be nice to have some privacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swiatek and Gauff are two of the top three players in women\u2019s tennis, so it stands to reason they\u2019ll be more in focus.<\/p>\n

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Visions of Swiatek being stopped by security after forgetting her credential became a meme during the tournament. She’s won four French Open titles as well as Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. But security is, well, security.<\/p>\n

Fan engagement<\/p>\n

The off-court camera surveillance occurs at other tournaments and isn’t confined to the Australian Open, where organizers have created a three-week festival around the season-opening major by incorporating all manner of fan engagement.<\/p>\n

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The vision from the nonpublic stadium areas isn’t always broadcast, but players don’t need reminding that some moments that get captured will turn up on the internet for being cute, informative or just outright dramatic.<\/p>\n

No. 2-ranked Swiatek said there were parts of her game she’d like to practice immediately before walking out for a match and \u201cit would be nice to have some space where you can do that without the whole world watching.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old is one of Poland’s biggest stars and is fully aware that being in the public gaze is part-and-parcel of being a champion.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re tennis players. We\u2019re meant to be watched on the court, you know, and in the press. That\u2019s our job,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Gauff’s racket<\/p>\n

No. 3-ranked Gauff, a two-time major winner, smashed her racket into the concrete floor of a ramp near the player area seven times after her Australian Open quarterfinal loss to Elina Svitolina<\/a> on Day 10.<\/p>\n

She stayed composed as she left the center court before trying to find somewhere in the shadows to vent.<\/p>\n

Turned out, there\u2019s pretty much no place within the confines of Rod Laver Arena except for the locker rooms that is beyond the scope of the cameras.<\/p>\n

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\u201cCertain moments \u2014 the same thing happened to Aryna (Sabalenka) after I played her in the final of the U.S. Open \u2014 I feel like they don\u2019t need to broadcast,\u201d Gauff said in her post-match news conference. \u201cI tried to go somewhere where I thought there wasn\u2019t a camera because I don\u2019t necessarily like breaking rackets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Serena’s advice<\/p>\n

Gauff received some encouragement from 23-time major winner Serena Williams, who posted on social media that there’s \u201cnothing wrong with hating to lose,\u201d and offering to show her how to demolish in one swipe \u2014 Serena style<\/a>. “<\/p>\n

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Gauff said she didn’t want to smash her racket on the court within sight of fans, which is why she saved it for a quieter area.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, yeah, maybe some conversations can be had,\u201d she said, \u201cbecause I feel like at this tournament the only private place we have is the locker room.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that’s exactly where fourth-seeded Amanda Anisimova proceeded after her quarterfinal loss to fellow American Jessica Pegula.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are good moments, obviously that people see, and that\u2019s fun. Then, when you lose, there are probably not-so-good moments,\u201d she said. \u201cThe fact that the video of Coco that was posted, it\u2019s tough, because she didn\u2019t have a say in that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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WTA takes concerns seriously<\/p>\n

The women’s tour said it \u201cstands with our players and takes their concerns about privacy and cameras at the Australian Open seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPlayers deserve spaces away from competition where they can recover in private,\u201d WTA chair Valerie Camillo said. \u201cWe have already taken steps to reduce camera presence in off-court player areas to ensure players have appropriate private spaces.”<\/p>\n

\u201cWe agree that there should be clear, respectful boundaries in off-court areas,\u201d Camillo added. “We believe this issue should be reviewed by tournament organizers and broadcast partners to ensure appropriate boundaries are in place.”<\/p>\n

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Djokovic: Can’t see it changing<\/p>\n

Novak Djokovic, the 24-time major winner, remembers the time before the omnipresent cameras, and preferred it. But he thinks there’ll be no winding it back.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw what happened with Coco after her match. I empathize with her,\u201d Djokovic<\/a> said. \u201cI agree with her. You know, it\u2019s really sad that you can\u2019t basically move away anywhere and hide and . . . fume out your frustration in a way that won\u2019t be captured by a camera.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBut we live in a society and in times where content is everything, so it\u2019s a deeper discussion. It\u2019s really hard for me to see that that\u2019s going (to go) backward. It\u2019s just something that I guess we have to accept.\u201d<\/p>\n

Djokovic made a crack about the sanctity of the locker room, which is still off-limits to TV.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m surprised that we have no cameras while we are taking a shower!,\u201d he said. \u201cI mean, that\u2019s probably the next step.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

More AP tennis: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/tennis<\/a><\/p>\n

John Pye, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) \u2014 Iga Swiatek picked up a privacy theme that Coco Gauff left the Australian Open…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[7641,49,48,4305,10459,616,139945,5385,82,593,41775],"class_list":["post-439749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-australian-open","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-coco-gauff","tag-elena-rybakina","tag-iga-swiatek","tag-quarterfinal","tag-serena-williams","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-tennis-players"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}