French Open: Coco Gauff forgets rackets but remembers how to win in opener
Coco Gauff brought her usual weapons to her first round victory at the French Open on Monday – her withering groundstrokes, blazing speed and booming serve. The only thing that was missing was perhaps the most important though: her rackets.
The No 2 seed grinned sheepishly when she realised her error just after she stepped on to Court Philippe-Chatrier for her match against Australia's Olivia Gadecki. 'They were supposed to be in my bag,' she told the chair umpire after opening her bag and discovering she had left the rackets in the locker room.
A ball boy eventually brought the American her rackets and she quickly dismissed Gadecki 6-2, 6-2 to progress to the second round.
'Honestly, I thought they put the rackets in the bag, and my side court bag is filled with drinks and everything,' Gauff told TNT after match. 'So it felt like I had enough weight. And then I got on court, and I opened the first zipper. I was like, 'OK, no rackets.' The second zipper, I was like, 'Oh my God. I went on court with no racquets.''
She joked that she blamed her coach, Jean-Christophe Faurel, for the error. 'Honestly, as long as I've been on tour, my coach has always put the rackets in the bag before the match because he's very superstitious,' she said. 'I'm blaming it on my coach. It's OK.'
Gauff, the 2023 US Open champion, is seeking her first title at Roland-Garros, where she reached the final in 2022.
Gauff is not the only player to have forgotten her equipment at a major. Former world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki, who is working as a TV analyst at the French Open, said she had suffered a similar mishap.
'I went to the US Open and halfway over to Flushing Meadows and I realized I didn't bring my racket bag and didn't have my rackets,' she said. 'No shoes, no nothing. That's a long detour.'
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