After missing out on a couple of chances of clinching titles in Madrid and Rome, the new world number 2, Coco Gauff has now set her eyes on Roland Garros. Gauff’s best record in this tournament was reaching the finals in 2022, where she was defeated by the current defending champion, Iga Swiatek, in straight sets. Can she make it count this time around? Well, shortly after her defeat at the Italian Open final to Aryna Sabalenka, the American said, “Hopefully, I can get to the final in Roland Garros and maybe the ‘third time is a charm’ thing is a real thing. That’s looking so far ahead. Overall, I lost to two quality opponents, Aryna in Madrid and Jasmine here. So yeah, I think I have a lot to improve, a lot that I can work on.” All she now hopes is to make a few corrections in her game and get off to a winning start in Paris. But who’s she facing in her first match?

The 2025 French Open draw is out, and as per the latest reports, she is all set to face the 23-year-old Australian Olivia Gadecki in her first match. Gadecki is currently ranked 93rd in the world, and she’ll be entering this match following her three-set defeat to another American, Caroline Dolehide, in the first round of the Italian Open.

If we take a look at Gadecki’s career, she made her main draw debut on the ITF Circuit in Brisbane in September 2016, and then five years later, Olivia Gadecki made her WTA Tour main draw debut. In that same year, she won her first WTA Tour singles main draw match at the Phillip Island Trophy, and it was followed by her first Top-1 against the former AO champion, Sofia Kenin. She made her AO debut in 2023 as a wildcard entrant, and then this year, Gadecki won the mixed doubles title at her home slam alongside John Peers.

Her career-high singles ranking has been 83, and in fact, she even represented her nation at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She’s now one of the most popular female tennis stars in Australia, but when did her tennis journey start exactly? Well, Coco Gauff’s opponent in the first round has a very interesting story! Olivia Gadeci was born and raised by her mother on the Gold Coast, where she started playing tennis at the age of just 3. She’s of Polish descent and has five brothers.

Do you know, Gadecki was considered a prodigious tennis talent as a junior, and at the age of 12 she was one of just 16 players from around the world invited to take part in the Longines Future Tennis Aces competition in Paris on the eve of the 2014 French Open. So, it seems she has a deep connection with the Parisian clay. Gadecki later relocated to the UK (in 2024) to further her career and expand her training opportunities.

Interesting Fact: Just like Coco Gauff, even Olivia Gadecki idolized Serena Williams while growing up.

There was a lot of buzz surrounding this Aussie star during the 2025 AO, but she went down to Veronika Kudermetova in the first round itself by 1-6,1-6. Tennis is a passion in her family, and her family has been her biggest supporter in her journey. Four of her brothers have played tennis. Her mother, Natalie Gadecki, has played a crucial role in their growing up. Talking about the support of her family, she once said, “Without my mom and my brothers definitely wouldn’t be in this position, and I’ve got such an amazing support crew around me. And, yeah, honestly, I couldn’t do it without them. So, I’m very grateful to have them in my corner.”

Even in 2023, when she made her debut at the AO as a wildcard entrant, she paid a tribute to her mom following her first-round victory against Polina Kudermetova. She said, “My mum has put a lot of time, sacrifice, and dedication into my career, so I’m really happy we can share that moment together. [She] means so much to me. I look up to her in every sort of way, and without her, I wouldn’t be here today, so I’m just eternally grateful for her time and sacrifice“.

Her mother also got a bit emotional during that time, as she stressed how hard it was for her and the family to witness that special day. But other than her family, there is another person who played a crucial role in pushing her back on track. Who’s she?

Coco Gauff’s first-round opponent at the 2025 French Open, Olivia Gadecki, had once wished to quit the sport

Olivia Gadecki was in her teens when she decided to take this bold call. Highlighting the real cause behind her wish to quit the sport during a previous interview with ABC News, she said, “I feel like 15, that sort of age is quite difficult one because I think you know you start to grow up, mature a little and I just started training full-time in Brisbane and was getting the train every day. I was leaving home at 6:00 am and getting home at 6-7 pm, and I was trying to balance school, and then I was also traveling quite a lot, and it all just caught up to me towards the end.”

She spoke about how she felt like her school was going down, and at the same time, she wasn’t enjoying her tennis. Hence, she decided, “If tennis didn’t work out, I still wanted to have something to fall back on, and so the year after I graduated, I felt this weight off my shoulders.” Olivia Gadecki said that she felt that with tennis, she had just got a certain period of time, but with studies, she can always do that as a student, or even study while playing the sport. For tennis, it was more like “I got to do now sort of thing” for her at that time. Who was the person who pushed her back onto the court that time?

According to Coco Gauff‘s opponent, the three-time Grand Slam champion, Ashleigh Barty, was the one who helped her during this tough phase. In fact, Barty also took up her mentorship role in 2023, and during that time, she also shared a few kind words on Gadecki. “Liv [Olivia Gadecki] brings genuine life into Australian tennis. She is the one who injected oxygen back into my pre-seasons and my career, and I know she has had a unique journey herself. Now I can see it in her eyes that she has got the hunger and the desire, and it is about her now putting her head down and finding the ways to enjoy it and keep it alive and keep it fun.”

Barty spoke about her tactical intelligence and how much she loves spending time with this young Aussie. Speaking about Ashleigh Barty, even Olivia Gadecki later stated in an interview with AAP that she was “really fortunate” to have Barty beside her through thick and thin. In 2019, Ash Barty became the first Australian to win a French Open singles title since Margaret Court in 1973. Can Olivia Gadecki force a massive upset in 2025?