Coco Gauff Jokes Coach Is to Blame After Forgetting Rackets Before Roland-Garros Match

Most people have had the nightmare of forgetting a key item before a big event or presentation, but Coco Gauff briefly played out that scenario in real life when her rackets weren't in her bag as she arrived on the court for her first-round match at Roland-Garros on Tuesday.

Gauff joked after her 6-2, 6-2 win over Olivia Gadecki that her coach was to blame for forgetting to pack her rackets.

"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," Gauff told reporters. "I'm blaming it on my coach. It's OK."

The start of the match was briefly delayed when Gauff realized there were no rackets in her bag, so they waited for a ball boy to bring them out from the locker room.

This is a moment that could lead to some future ribbing from Frances Tiafoe, who had the same thing happen to him at Indian Wells in March.

Gauff joked after her opening match at Indian Wells that she "can tell by the weight" of the bag if it's full or empty.

"He should have been able to tell by weight," she added. "Yeah, I don't know. He's also Frances and probably wasn't thinking."

Within the same discussion, Gauff did defend Tiafoe by saying it's "usually the coaches" who pack the rackets.

Despite the brief mishap, Gauff had no problems defeating Gadecki. She dropped just four games in a match that took 71 minutes to complete. The No. 2 seed in the women's bracket will take on Tereza Valentova in the second round on Thursday.