After a frustrating loss to Elina Svitolina at the Australian Open, Coco Gauff let it all out with a huge racket smash behind the scenes. The controversial smash, however, quickly went viral with fellow athletes Iga Swiatek and Jessica Pegula, speaking out in her defense. And now, Olympic long jump champion Tara Davis‑Woodhall has also stepped in to show support for Gauff.

Taking to Threads, Davis‑Woodhall joked, “If I had a racket I’d smash it too 😂.”

Gauff had been playing remarkably well earlier in the tournament, but quickly lost in straight sets (6-1, 6-2) in less than an hour. Her serve faltered, with five double faults in the first set, and she made 12 unforced errors in the second.

Meanwhile Svitolina played aggressively, forcing Gauff into mistakes. Frustrated, Gauff smashed her racket behind the scenes, thinking it was private and why Tara’s empathy resonated so strongly.

Tara Davis‑Woodhall knows what it’s like to wrestle with emotions under pressure. She has admitted that her patience is “zero” at times showing she isn’t afraid to confront her feelings head-on. But she is not afraid to speak her heart out in front of anyone. And she has done it before, and loudly.

Last year, when Davis‑Woodhall faced negative comments about her hair, she responded, “Getting so sick of miserable people commenting on other people’s lives… where are the morals and values?” And she has also let the world see her at her most vulnerable.

Tara Davis‑Woodhall has also posted very vulnerable moments in public. She wept during the national anthem after a big championship victory saying, “We’re all human. We all have one heart, one brain, and if we use this together, we can be unstoppable.”

And this is not the first time Tara Davis-Woodhall has stood firmly behind Coco Gauff.

The Paris moment that linked Tara Davis-Woodhall and Coco Gauff

Back at the 2024 Paris Olympics, when Gauff won her first-round match, Tara Davis‑Woodhall watched closely and shared her excitement on Instagram. Her caption was simple and heartfelt. “I love Coco.”

And soon, Gauff noticed it. She reshared Davis‑Woodhall’s post and replied, “Love this,” turning a one-sided cheer into a shared exchange. Not long after, Gauff posted again, thanking Tara for coming to watch her play. “Saw this star mid match!! Thanks for coming @taarra,” she wrote, hearts included.

And if you look deeper, their bind makes sense. Gauff has always loved track and field. In fact, she has said that if tennis had not worked out, athletics might have been her path.

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“Track is the only sport I would say that in just because I did do well in middle school like never training. I didn’t go to one track practice, and I won all my races except two, and both were against the same girl and she was in 8th grade,” said Gauff

That connection runs in the family, too. Gauff’s mother, Candi, competed in track and field at Florida State University, and Coco’s natural speed stood out from a young age. So yes, athletics was never far from her story. Even in Paris, being around track athletes added to her sense of inspiration.

Gauff has talked publicly about the athletes she is inspired by, citing Tara Davis-Woodhall and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Gabby Thomas and Sha’Carri Richardson. She was impressed by observing their successes and struggles both.

“Yeah, it gives me a lot of inspiration,” said Gauff. “Seeing Sydney, and then Tara, she won the long jump, and then, yeah, Gabby Thomas winning the 200, and Sha’Carri winning silver, just so many people that I got to talk to. It definitely is inspiring, just seeing how all of them went through respective downs in their careers and to be able to, you know, find it, and each of them going through different mental and physical challenges.”