Remember the Indian Wells Open a couple of months ago when fans burst into laughter as Frances Tiafoe stepped onto the court, without his racquets? After losing a bet to Tommy Paul, he sported a Philadelphia Eagles cap, but hilariously forgot all his gear. Fast forward two months, and Coco Gauff found herself in the same predicament at the French Open, arriving for her 1st-round match sans racquets. Naturally, Tiafoe jumped at the chance to pull her leg. The banter kicked off instantly, and he hasn’t let up since. But hey, isn’t forgetting racquets kind of normal? Maybe. Still, Big Foe has every reason to keep teasing Coco!

The drama unfolded right before Coco Gauff’s 1st-round match at the French Open, when she ran into unexpected trouble before even hitting a ball. As she prepared to face Olivia Gadecki, Gauff discovered she had forgotten the most essential part of her kit: her racquet. A video captured the amusing moment, showing her rummaging through her bag, then shrugging twice after realizing the blunder. Gauff and her opponent Gadecki, shared a light-hearted laugh as Gauff explained the situation.

Fast forward to the 4th round match now at the ATP side, and Frances Tiafoe, now deep in his own French Open run, couldn’t resist taking a playful jab at his fellow American. He’s been teasing Gauff ever since, reveling in the relatable racquet mishap.

Speaking after his 4th-round win over Daniel Altmaier, Frances Tiafoe couldn’t resist poking fun at Coco Gauff for her racquet blunder at French Open. “Incredible, absolutely loved it. It was the first day I saw her today, and I absolutely rinsed her because she was clowning so hard at any. Well, I was like, man, I can’t believe you doing that,” Big Foe said with a smile at the post-match press conference.

He went on to describe how even Gauff’s sponsor, New Balance, couldn’t save her from the embarrassment. “She was, I mean she was full out shaking her whole bag like it was like an empty cookie jar like on shockete, I’m like what are you doing like like you know and the only person there was her New Balance D. She looking at him like. He’s like you got New Balance on, so what’s up? It was incredible, man. I’m going to keep ripping her for a long time,” he added.

Tiafoe didn’t stop there, though. He admitted he wants this to happen again with Coco. “I’ve never seen you know someone too in the world have zero things in her bag, that was incredible,” he said. “So yeah, I’m glad. I think it’s just that that kind of thing is so big because it just makes everyone look like we’re all human like you know people make mistakes whether the team or her whatever but that was that was a funny moment especially like she tries to be like Mrs masher so that was that was great. I’m happy it happened to her, hopefully, it happens again.”

But why is Tiafoe going so hard on Gauff? Well, she gave him a hard time back in March when Tiafoe forgot his racquets at Indian Wells. Gauff blamed his coach, David Witt, and joked, “Frances is always late to everything and does forget a lot of things. And I have seen and heard he’s showed up to the airport without stuff and things like that.” So while it may not have been Gauff’s fault this time, she’s not off the hook either.

Now, as the laughs continue, Tiafoe turns his attention to his QF clash with Lorenzo Musetti at Roland Garros as he remains with Tommy Paul to serve the American hope at Roland Garros.

Frances Tiafoe opens up about his tough 4th-round clash at French clay

Frances Tiafoe advanced to the QF at Roland Garros with a commanding straight-sets win over Daniel Altmaier, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6. He now joins fellow American Tommy Paul in the last eight, marking the first time since 1996, when Jim Courier and Pete Sampras both reached this stage, that 2 American men have made the French Open QF. 

Big Foe has been in stellar form, not dropping a single set through four matches. On his road to the quarters, the former US Open semi-finalist defeated Roman Safiullin, Pablo Carreño Busta, and fellow American Sebastian Korda before dispatching Altmaier. 

However, in his post-match interview, Tiafoe admitted Altmaier kept him on the run. “Third set, he started getting a lot of balls in high, felt like boys’ under-12s out here,” Tiafoe joked. “Happy to get through, very tough, won every match in straights and only played one set that wasn’t clean. Pretty impressive for me.”

Next up, Frances will face the 8th seed Lorenzo Musetti, who overcame Holger Rune in four sets. With confidence high and momentum on his side, can Tiafoe make his run to the French Open SF this time by beating the Italian?