Tennis fans watching the Grandstand court could not stop replaying it. One player raised her arms toward a roaring crowd. A few feet behind her, another smashed a spare racket into the court until the frame gave out.
The moment was caught on camera and shared countless times within hours, summing up a first-round match that had swung wildly across two rain-delayed days at the US Open.
Emma Navarro walked away with the win, while Lois Boisson walked away with a viral meltdown.
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Emma Navarro survives Lois Boisson in three-set thriller
Navarro entered the match as the heavy favorite and looked ready to close it out in straight sets on Sunday, leading 7-6(6), 4-2 before rain suspended play on the outer courts. She resumed Monday just points from victory, but Boisson broke her while she served for the match at 5-4. The Frenchwoman then dominated the second-set tiebreak 7-1 to force a decider.
Boisson broke first in the third set as well, putting real pressure on the No. 26 seed. Navarro answered immediately, then pulled away late, breaking at 4-3 and closing out the match 6-3. The final score read 7-6(6), 6-7(1), 6-3 in Navarro’s favor after a match that stretched across two days because of weather.
“I’m just proud of my toughness,” Navarro said. “It’s not easy being that close and losing a tough set.”
Navarro advances to face fellow American Caty McNally in the second round. The two have split their four previous meetings, and Navarro won their only prior US Open matchup last year 6-2, 6-1.
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Lois Boisson smashes racket after tough US Open exit
Boisson shook hands with Navarro at the net once the match ended. Then she walked toward her chair, picked up a spare racket, and began smashing it into the court repeatedly while Navarro celebrated with fans just a few feet in front of her. The racket was left mangled by the time she finished. Cameras captured both moments in the same frame, and the clip spread quickly across social media.
The outburst capped a difficult stretch for the 23-year-old, who broke through in 2025 by reaching the French Open semifinals as a wild card, upsetting Jessica Pegula and Mirra Andreeva along the way and climbing as high as No. 34 in the world. Her ranking had since fallen to No. 236 entering the US Open after an uneven season complicated by injuries. She retired from a WTA 125 event in Philadelphia just six days before because of a minor left ankle issue.
Against Navarro, Boisson looked closer to her Roland Garros form for long stretches, surviving the rain delay and erasing a set-and-break deficit before the third set slipped away. The loss marks another first-round exit at a Grand Slam for Boisson, whose only prior US Open appearance also ended in the first round last year.
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