World No. 2 Coco Gauff experienced a moment of embarrassment just before her French Open first-round match when she realized she had walked onto the court without a crucial piece of equipment: her tennis rackets.
Despite the pre-match hiccup, Gauff went on to comfortably defeat Olivia Gadecki with a score of 6-2, 6-2 today on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
Her start to the campaign in Paris was nearly derailed before it began during the warm-up. Gauff unzipped her racket bag and found it empty.
The surprised 21-year-old looked towards her team in the stands with a look of confusion. She then held up the empty bag towards them, appearing to ask simply, “Rackets?”
Fortunately, a ball boy quickly came to the rescue, sprinting onto the court carrying five rackets for the former US Open champion.
Speaking about the amusing incident after her match, Gauff playfully pointed the finger at her coach. She explained, “The culprit is not in the box because he knows the rackets are supposed to be in my bag.”
She added that her coach is superstitious and always prepares her rackets, freshly gripping them each day before placing them in the bag. “Honestly, as long as I have been on tour, my coach has always put the rackets in the bag before the match because he is very superstitious,” she said.
Gauff joked, “I go on the court and I realise I have no rackets and I literally just made fun of Frances Tiafoe for it. But now I`ll be quiet. But I`m blaming it on my coach, so it`s OK.”
The incident mirrors a recent situation involving Frances Tiafoe, who also forgot his rackets during a match in Indian Wells in March, causing a delay while his coach retrieved them.
This racket oversight isn`t Gauff`s only recent awkward moment; she also mistakenly served during a match in Rome while her opponent, Qinwen Zheng, was not yet positioned on the court.
