Tennis star Coco Gauff experienced an embarrassing moment on the court before her French Open first round match.
Despite the pre-match hiccup, the world number two defeated Olivia Gadecki with a dominant score of 6-2, 6-2 today.
However, her Roland-Garros campaign began with a surprising start during the warm-up on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
Upon opening her bag, Gauff discovered her rackets were missing.
The visibly confused player, aged 21, looked towards her support team in the stands with a puzzled expression.
She then held up her empty bag towards them, seemingly questioning where her essential equipment was.
Fortunately, a ball boy quickly came to her aid, rushing onto the court carrying five of the former US Open winner`s rackets.
When asked about the incident after the match, Gauff humorously remarked, “The person responsible isn`t in the box because they know the rackets should be in my bag.”
She added, “Honestly, for my entire career on tour, my coach has always placed the rackets in my bag before a match because he`s quite superstitious.”
“He prefers to put a new grip on each racket daily. I personally don`t mind; I can play even with a used grip.”
“I walked onto the court and realized I had no rackets, which is funny because I just made fun of Frances Tiafoe for doing the same thing. Now I`ll keep quiet.”
“But I`m putting the blame on my coach, so it`s fine.”
Frances Tiafoe, who won his first-round match at Roland-Garros on Sunday against Roman Safiullin, also forgot his rackets during a match in Indian Wells in March.
That match was delayed briefly while Tiafoe`s coach, David Witt, retrieved the rackets from the stands.
This isn`t Gauff`s only recent on-court mishap; she also served against Qinwen Zheng in Rome when her opponent wasn`t ready on the court.
