{"id":27060,"date":"2026-02-27T09:04:44","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T07:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers-qa\/channelafrica\/news\/wta-tournament-sets-up-rage-room-for-players-to-blow-off-steam\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:35:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:35:01","slug":"wta-tournament-sets-up-rage-room-for-players-to-blow-off-steam","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/wta-tournament-sets-up-rage-room-for-players-to-blow-off-steam\/","title":{"rendered":"WTA tournament sets up \u2018rage room\u2019 for players to blow off steam"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">A Women\u2019s Tennis Association (WTA) tournament in Texas has unveiled a \u201crage room\u201d for players to take out their frustrations away from the cameras after Coco Gauff\u2018s racket-smashing outburst at the Australian Open last month sparked debate about privacy at tournaments.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"x_ms-outlook-mobile-signature\">\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Shortly after Gauff\u2019s 59-minute quarter-final loss to Elina Svitolina at Melbourne Park, the American went to the match call area and repeatedly smashed her racket on the ground, unaware that it was being broadcast to viewers around the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Novak Djokovic and Iga Swiatek were among the players calling for more privacy off the court following the incident.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The ATX Open in Austin, Texas, has come up with a solution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\u201cIntroducing the ATX Open rage room, the first of its kind, where players can privately express frustration or emotion in a safe, camera-free environment,\u201d the WTA 250 tournament posted on its social media platforms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The post also featured a sign with the words \u201cdon\u2019t smile\u201d and \u201ccount to three\u201d along with a broken racket.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">While the reaction online was largely positive, some questioned whether the room would encourage players to vent their frustrations in a physical manner.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Dubai Tennis Championships organisers have set up a \u201cSmash Room\u201d truck for fans this week, with Chinese player Shang Juncheng invited to try it out in front of the cameras.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\u201cI smashed a few items, including DVDs and big containers,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s loud and it\u2019s intense but in a good way. You get everything out of your system in there instead of taking that frustration onto the court.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\u2014Reuters\u2014<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":22702,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-27060","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Dubai Tennis Championships organisers have set up a \u201cSmash Room\u201d truck for fans this week.","published_date":null,"news_description":"Dubai Tennis Championships organisers have set up a \u201cSmash Room\u201d truck for fans this week.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/27060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/27060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27333,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/27060\/revisions\/27333"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=27060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}