(Sports news, tennis news) – Number 23 seed Anastasia Potapova vented her anger on the racket at the Australian Open 2023.

Potapova smashes her racket in round 1 of the Australian Open

Potapova suffered a shock in the first round of the Australian Open when she lost to Kaja Juvan, ranked 109 in the world. The Russian female tennis player nicknamed “the new Maria Sharapova” quickly hung up her racket after only 2 sets with a score of 1-6, 4-6.

Potapova vented her anger on the racket after a shocking loss at the Australian Open 2024

Immediately after losing the match, Potapova angrily smashed her racket. After that, Potapova left her poor racket in the middle of the court and went to the net to shake Juvan’s hand. After shaking Potapova’s hand at the net, Juvan picked up the racket and brought it out onto the court to give to a fan.

Lucky fan was given Potapova’s racket by Juvan

Responding to a video on the social network Twitter, Jack McArdle wrote “I am that fan” and posted a selfie of him holding the racket that was smashed by Potapova.

In another post, McArdle called Juvan a “legend” and thanked the 24-year-old female tennis player for “a wonderful souvenir.” “She was truly a legend, in the right place at the right time but a wonderful souvenir,” McArdle wrote.

Fans were given the racket that Potapova smashed

In the first set, Juvan broke Potapova’s 3 consecutive serve games to win 6-1. In the second set, Potapova had a chance to break Juvan’s first serve game but missed two break points. But then, Potapova saved break points in the second and fourth games.

Through the first 9 games of set two, Juvan led 5-4. In the 10th game, Potapova held serve and had a chance to equalize the score. However, Juvan won the decisive break to end the match. And as mentioned above, Potapova vented her anger on her racket.

In round 2, Juvan continued to face another Russian player, Anastasia Zakharova, ranked 190 in the world.