Tiafoe isn't letting Gauff forget Roland Garros racquet gaffe easily

Gauff advances to fifth straight quarterfinal at Roland Garros, but Tiafoe teases her for forgetting racquets. Both players have made similar blunders, with Gauff admitting to the mistake. Despite the teasing, Gauff values her maturity and strives to be a good example.

Coco Gauff might be in the midst of another deep run at Roland Garros -- she's through to her fifth straight quarterfinal at the clay-court major -- but fellow American Frances Tiafoe isn't letting her easily forget a blunder that happened in the tournament's early days. The World No. 2 went viral arriving for her first-round match against Australia's Olivia Gadecki without her tennis racquets in her bag -- and Sunday, Tiafoe was still talking about it

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“I absolutely loved it. It was the first day I saw her today, and I absolutely rinsed her. ... She was full out shaking her whole bag like it was an empty cookie jar on Chatrier. I was like, ‘What are you doing?’ ... I’ve never seen someone [ranked] No. 2 in the world have zero things in her bag. That was incredible,” two-time US Open semifinalist Tiafoe, through to the French Open quarterfinals for the first time, said.

Gauff's fellow American knows the feeling well, though: He made the mistake back in March at the BNP Paribas Open. He got plenty of ribbing on social media and from other players -- including Gauff, who said after her own viral moment that she teased Tiafoe about it as recently as Madrid. Gauff was "clowning so hard" at his expense after Indian Wells, Tiafoe said, that he has been enjoying the opportunity to tease her right back.

“That kind of thing is so big because it just makes everyone [realize] we’re all human. People make mistakes, whether it’s the team or her or whatever,” he added, continuing with a smile: “That was a funny moment, especially [because] she tries to be Mrs. Mature. That was great. I’m happy it happened to her. Hopefully it happens again.”

Gauff says she has been begrudgingly let Tiafoe have his fun.

"I literally told him, I was, like, 'From you, I expected it.' From you, it's OK, but the fact that it happened to me," Gauff said, "because I feel like I'm a professional person, and yeah, usually I am someone, if anybody knows me, I'm someone that can find the comeback real quick. Even if I'm wrong, I'm one of those people that will still defend myself. I don't like losing arguments.

"But that one, I just had to take it. I learned that I had nothing to say, especially because I gave him a lot of crap for it, and then not even six months later I did the same thing on an even bigger stage."

But Gauff is taking the wisecrack about her maturity as a compliment. In the public eye since her early teens, she said it's one she gets a lot.

“I definitely for sure feel like I’m sometimes, when I was a junior, especially more mature than maybe some of my peers. I don’t know why. I feel like I have always been that. When I was in school, I would always be the first one to class. I remember getting yellow for the behavior chart once, and that was like the worst day of my life,” Gauff said.

“I’m definitely someone that prides myself in being a good example. I think it’s because I have two younger brothers, and I feel like I have to be that example.”

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