Coco Gauff walked onto court for her opening French Open match with all of her racquets missing from her bag as she prepared to face Olivia Gadecki in Tuesday’s first round.
But despite losing track of her weapons, the second seed found a way to spend just 71 minutes in dispatching the Australian 6-2, 6-2 in the Roland Garros opener.
Gauff, headphones blaring pop music into her ears, got all the way to her chair on the walkout without noticing something important was missing from her bag.
Once she twigged, a ballboy was quickly sent to the locker room, returning on the run with a handful of sticks for the 2022 finalist.
Victory was doubly sweet for Gauff as she played for the first time since being hammered in the recent Rome final in straight sets by Jasmine Paolini.
“The most important thing is to play with a racquet,” she joked afterwards.”Maybe it relaxed me going into the match.
“It was just such a funny thing. I’m just happy to get through today and I will remember my racquets for next time.”
The 21-year-old also made some fashion waves as she wore a black leather jacket in the walk-on, a stylistic wrinkle dreamed up by her clothing sponsor.
After complimenting the garment as “fire,” Gauff explained: “I always wanted to spice up my walk-on outfits. We talked about doing a leather jacket and other stuff.
“I was pleasantly surprised with it. I think it’s cool. I feel like it matches the Parisian vibe here and it just makes me feel super powerful going onto the court.”
Gauff was joined in the second round on a cloudy day by compatriot Jessica Pegula, a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Romanian Anca Todoni.
Pegula is back at the event for a sixth time after missing 2024 through injury.
Sixth seed Mirra Andreeva had to stick to a precise pre-match morning schedule after being assigned to a crack-of-dawn 11 a.m. start.
But the 18-year-old took full advantage, producing a 6-4, 6-3 defeat of Spaniard Cristina Busca to move into the second round.
The French-based player said she needed a 6:40 wakeup and then detailed every hour of the countdown to taking the court.
The final polish is applied just before the start with coach and former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez running the show.
“I warm up 30-40 minutes with a hitting partner. Then we finish with some baskets from Conchita,” the Indian Wells winner said.
“It depends on her mood. If she’s in a good mood, she doesn’t move me as much. If she’s a bit pissed at me, I do some running”
Andreeva was proud of her fighting spirit on court. “My goal was just to keep fighting, playing, and showing everything I can, trying to put a lot of balls in the court.
“In the end, point by point, I managed to find my rhythm.”
Double Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka showed the dominance which took her into the WTA elite a decade ago, with a 6-0, 6-0 beatdown of Belgian Yanina Wichmaier.
The last time Azarenka produced a “double bagel” scoreline was 2021 with a similar result over Sonia Kenin in the Rome second round.
Main photo:-Coco Gauff found her rackets, and her form to win first round match – by Roger Parker ISF Ltd
