Remember how Taylor Fritz showed his fun side while praising his doubles partner Coco Gauff during the United Cup last season? Gauff was coming after her sensational WTA Finals triumph over Qinwen Zheng in the summit clash. And guess what? She continued her form in Australia, too, with their mixed doubles pair of Gauff and Fritz snatching a win in their first encounter against Canada. After the result, Fritz couldn’t help but applaud his teammate Gauff. He wrote on social media, “Coco is carrying me and yeah we’re ready for the next round.” The fun side of Fritz really made waves back then. And now, it’s resurfaced again, following Gauff’s historic French Open glory last week.

Lately, several hilarious tennis moments have popped up more when it comes to American players. During her French Open campaign, there occurred a moment for Gauff when she forgot to take her rackets before stepping on the court. It happened during the fourth round match against Ekaterina Alexandrova and her compatriot Frances Tiafoe was quick to comment, “Mrs. Mature,” as reported by the Tennis Channel earlier this month. Later, Gauff snuck in a playfull jab of her own: “I feel like maybe just playing tennis, it forces you to grow up faster for some people. Maybe not him (Tiafoe).”

Now in an interview with Vogue post French Open win,  Gauff was reminded of this incident alongside Fritz’s recent banter with another player. Remember what he did with Casper Ruud after Ruud lost his quarterfinal to Jannik Sinner at the Italian Open last month? Sinner beat him with a brutal score line of 6-0, 6-1.  Fritz who was already ousted in the first round of that event, took to social media and joked, “You almost had him”. When asked to comment on the growing camaraderie amongst the American contingent Gauff said, “Yes! I think humor helps you realize it literally is just a game. Finding humor in a loss can be tough, but ultimately, it’s just a game and you should treat it as that.”

She also commented on the instance involving Tiafoe. “I knew he was going to say something. When we ran into each other, he was like, “I’ve been waiting to see you. He gave me a lot of crap for it because I gave him a lot of crap when he did it—but honestly, I think it was meant to be, because I was kind of nervous heading into that match in particular,” she said. “So I think it helped take the load off. And now I won’t give Frances so much crap the next time he does something dumb!”

Well banter aside, now it’s time to focus on tennis again. Especially for Gauff who’s fresh off her Roland Garros triumph in Paris. While she may have proved her mettle on clay, she’s already set her sights on Wimbledon.

Coco Gauff talks about her game plan to overcome the grass challenge

In the same interview, Coco Gauff admitted her shortcomings on the grass surface. Her overall record at the Wimbledon hasn’t been consistent at all. Since making her event debut in 2019, she’s failed to make a deep run in any edition. In total, she’s played five so far. The American is yet to reach even the quarterfinal at the All England Club.

So what’s going to be the strategy this time? Gauff revealed, “Grass has been trial and error for me. The biggest thing, I think, is just to be more aggressive.”

The 2024 WTA Finals winner added, “On clay, you have a little more time, you can slide, you can use the height of the ball’s bounce a bit more. That’s less so on grass. So I’ll be playing more aggressively, and I want to serve a lot bigger.” Last season, Gauff made it to the fourth round at the Wimbledon. She couldn’t move beyond after losing against compatriot Emma Navarro who won with a score line of 6-4, 6-3.

“We had a game plan going in, and I felt that it wasn’t working. I don’t always ask for advice from the box, but today was one of those rare moments where I felt I didn’t have solutions,” Gauff reflected on her defeat last year. Do you think she will be able to mirror her French Open run at the Wimbledon next month? Let us know in the comments below.