Stefanos Tsitsipas and Paula Badosa made their official mixed doubles debut at the 2024 US Open. Unfortunately, it did not go according to plan, and it included an incident that left fans furious.
The pair are a high-profile couple in the sport, attracting much attention. They took a break for a while before electing to resume their relationship after a very brief period apart.
Badosa has enjoyed better singles results at the US Open than her boyfriend. On Tuesday, she will face Emma Navarro for a place in her maiden Grand Slam semi-final. Navarro beat Coco Gauff in the last round, showing how tough she is to beat.
The Spaniard should feel confident about her chances, though. Her run to the quarterfinal included saving a match point in the third round against Elena-Gabriela Ruse. She went on to win that match in a deciding set tiebreak.
By contrast, Tsitsipas lost in the first round to Thanasi Kokkinakis. The two-time Grand Slam runner-up decided to stop working with his father after the disappointment of his early loss in New York.
Tsitsipas got another chance to be successful at this year's US Open by playing mixed doubles alongside Badosa. In the opening round, they took on the Mexican duo Guiliana Olmos and Santiago Gonzalez.
The high-profile pair lost 6-7, 4-6 to the Mexicans, who reached the Wimbledon final this year. Badosa played her long singles match against Ruse earlier in the day, making the challenge even stiffer.
However, Tsitsipas and Badosa's defeat did not create most of the headlines after the match. Some fans on social media were incensed by how Tsitsipas threw his racket after losing a point during the contest.
As seen in the video below, Tsitsipas missed a return at 3-5 down in the first-set tiebreak, handing his opponents three set points. Badosa began to walk towards her partner, probably to do the customary high-five most pairs do between points.
Tsitsipas then unexpectedly and aggressively threw his racket to the ground, bouncing away in front of him. Badosa flinched when her boyfriend did this, obviously not expecting him to do that.
Many fans quickly condemned Tsitsipas on social media, saying his racket could have gone anywhere when he threw it, potentially hitting Badosa if he had not been lucky.
Others, while not condoning Tsitsipas throwing the racket, felt angry fans were blowing the incident out of proportion and that last year's Australian Open runner-up threw the racket away from Badosa, so she was never in any danger.
Badosa defended Tsitsipas in a post on X that she has since deleted. She had written that frustration is normal in sports and that a reaction like the Greek's was not unusual.
"Of course. We ALL have reactions like that on a court unfortunately. Frustration and stress is very normal in sports. Can you people chill? Are you going to judge every single step? You are very tiring!"
It is unclear whether the Spaniard truly believes this or if she was unhappy with Tsitsipas' actions in private. Badosa deleting her tweet makes her true feelings more unclear.
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