Top racquet smashes of 2020: No. 2, Shelby Rogers

Shelby Rogers was not having her favorite day.

On October 30, she was up a set though down near the the tail end of the second, and she double faulted. But not just that. She hit an errant second serve and, almost in a singular motion, a continuous swing, cracked her racquet on the ground and sent it flailing behind her.

That's because it handed the second set to new-to-the-Top-200 player Clara Tauson, without the rising teen needing even to hit a shot.

At the end of the day—that day, and this year overall—it's probably the most stylish, most fleeting racquet crack of 2020. On that, Rogers should be saluted for how she takes a match so seriously and un-seriously at the same time.

Of note, this transpired in Tyler, Texas, in the USTA Pro Circuit's LTP $100K event's second round. It came about six weeks after Rogers' US Open quarterfinal showing, where she had upset Petra Kvitova and Elena Rybakina before losing to eventual champion Naomi Osaka in straight-but-respectable sets.

For Tyler's 32-player field, the organizers deployed no ball gatherers; players fetched their own around the courts. It was a long way from New York's relative mid-match luxuries.

Rogers would go on to drop the match to Tauson, 5-7, 7-5, 6-3. Rogers would finish 2020 at No. 60, while Tauson ended up at No. 152.