Coco Gauff demands major Grand Slam rule change in middle of French Open

Coco Gauff has drawn attention to a problem with the tennis Grand Slams while competing at the French Open.

Gauff is defending the title after winning the championship at Roland Garros in 2025 and beat fellow American player Taylor Townsend 6-4, 6-0 in a dominant display.

The 22-year-old fourth seed is set to face Egyptian qualifier Mayar Sherif in the second round, with Great Britain's Katie Boulter or Anastasia Potapova of Austria waiting in the third.

Gauff was critical of the lack of privacy at the Australian Open in January, where footage was broadcast of her smashing her racket in a players' area after she was beaten in the quarter-finals.

Roland Garros has been a more comfortable experience, with backstage cameras limited and players better protected from off-court exposure, and Gauff has called for the rest of the tennis Grand Slams to take the same approach.

"Roland Garros does a good job with the cameras," Gauff said in her first-round press conference in Paris.

"I, personally, haven’t had any experiences where they’ve broadcast anything, an emotional moment or anything like that. I’m sure I’ve been crying in that gym before and they’ve never shown it.

"I think the problem was also specific to Australia. Almost all the private areas outside the room are recorded, so you have nowhere to go.

"And some of the cameras look like security cameras, not necessarily like broadcast cameras.

"I definitely think having a signal, or even cameras having a little light that goes off when it’s red, or a red light, or something like that when you’re potentially being streamed, could make a difference."

'I tried to go somewhere where there no cameras'

Gauff is a two-time Grand Slam champion winning the US Open at Flushing Meadows in 2023 before reaching the semi-finals of the Australian and the French in 2024.

After losing to Iga Swiatek in their 2024 semi-final, Gauff went two better to claim the title at Roland Garros last year.

The American lost 6-1, 6-2 to Elina Svitolina in the last eight of this year's Australian Open, sparking an unnecessarily public reaction.

"I tried to go somewhere where there were no cameras," she said in Paris.

"I kind of have a thing with the broadcast. I feel like certain moments – the same thing happened to Aryna [Sabalenka] after I played her in the final of the US Open – I feel like they don’t need to broadcast."