The Australian Open saw quite the upset Sunday night, with unseeded Hungarian player Timea Babos knocking off Coco Vandeweghe, the American who was the 10th seed. Babos’ 7-6 (4), 6-2 win also saw Vandeweghe (seen above at last year’s U.S. Open) get quite upset, as she slammed her racket down at one point and reportedly shouted obscenities at her opponent:
Coco Vandeweghe got her second code violation and a point penalty for slamming her racquet and screaming “Oh fuck off you fucking bitch” to Babos at the #AusOpen. 😂 pic.twitter.com/xunlDXaCS0
— John Thrasher (@jthrasher) January 15, 2018
@AustralianOpen what was that??? @CoCoVandey pic.twitter.com/nA2fuOI4sw
— bridge (@bridgesuite) January 15, 2018
CoCo Vandeweghe gets a point penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct as she trails a set and 1-5 to Babos on Hisense. Screamed obscenities toward Babos, looked like. #AusOpen
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) January 15, 2018
https://twitter.com/BenG412/status/952751351305506817
Dear @TennisChannel why do you continue to support players that show such poor sportsmanship? Tonight Coco Vandeweghe “fu@k off you fu@king bit*h” to her opponent @AustralianOpen.
— Greg Bryant (@greg90803) January 15, 2018
Earlier in the match, Vandeweghe picked up a code violation for taking the court late:
CoCo Vandeweghe had gotten her first code violation earlier for time violation/civil disobedience: refusing to take court without eating a banana first. #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/6Opg7xon2N
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) January 15, 2018
That’s quite the night for Vandeweghe, a semifinalist in last year’s Australian Open. And it was quite the night on the other end for Babos, ranked 51st in the world in singles heading into this match. She put up a historic result:
Timea Babos knocks out World #9 CoCo Vandeweghe for her first Top 10 win after SIXTEEN previous losses against them. Vandeweghe will fall well out of the Top 10 after losing semifinal points from last year.
— Jason (@Hurleytennis) January 15, 2018
Oddly enough, this comes less than a week after Vandeweghe tried to defuse some “arrogant” criticisms of her in an ESPNw piece from D’Arcy Maine:
Arrogant and brash? You don't know @CoCoVandey.
https://t.co/vve00ibo0m— espnW (@espnW) January 11, 2018
Some highlights:
“I think probably the biggest misconception about me is I’m arrogant,” said the 26-year-old who advanced to the semifinals at both the Australian Open and US Open last season. “I don’t find myself to be arrogant when I’m around people or even walking around, but I seem to get called arrogant a bunch. And that I don’t understand.
“It doesn’t make me feel great. But at the end of the day, I’ve never been big about what people say about me or let it really affect me. … When I was 13 or 14, it bothered me when people made fun of me, like any person. But I know who I am.”
In that article, Vandeweghe also complained about WTA fines, saying “It’s a business, and they’re looking out for tournaments and sponsors, which they should as a business. But there’s no one protecting the players anymore.” We’ll see if she gets a further fine from her actions here.
