Gauff's biggest challenge in Round 1? Remembering her racquets

There wasn't a lot that went wrong for Coco Gauff in her first-round match at Roland Garros -- after she got herself properly equipped to play, that is. There was a brief and amusing delay to Gauff's Roland Garros debut on Tuesday when the No. 2 seed walked out onto Court Philippe-Chatrier without racquets in her tennis bag.

Opening the pouch as she settled in on court only to find it empty, Gauff looked puzzled before a ball boy ran out minutes later carrying her pack of mint Head Boom MP 2024 racquets.

"That's better," on-court announcer Marc Maury said, drawing laughter, applause and smiles from the crowd, as well as from Gauff, her opponent Olivia Gadecki and chair umpire Marija Cicak.

Gauff eventually won the match, 6-2, 6-2.

Gauff later placed humorous blame for the incident on her coach Jean-Christophe Faurel, and his lingering superstition of wanting to re-grip each of her racquets fresh for each match.

“Honestly, I thought they put the racquets in the bag, and my court bag is filled with drinks and everything,” Gauff explained to Sloane Stephens on TNT. “So it felt like I had enough weight. And then I got on court, and I opened the first zipper. I was like, ‘OK, no racquets.’ The second zipper, ‘I was like, Oh my God. I went on court with no racquets.’"

But she's not the first player it's ever happened to, not even this year. At the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Gauff's fellow American and good friend Frances Tiafoe did the same thing before his first-round match -- a fact she was quick to point out in the aftermath of her own viral moment.

"I literally just made fun of Frances for it in Madrid," Gauff said too, "but now I’ll be quiet."

It didn't take long for Tiafoe to get good-natured revenge with a response posted to social media. Gauff's fellow Atlanta-born American Chris Eubanks, who is commentating the tournament for TNT, also had a laugh at his friend's expense in his own post.

"@cocogauff you gotta get more professional I'd never do something like this," Tiafoe joked on Instagram.

"Can't believe I'm in the same stat line as @bigfoe1998 smh 🤦🏾‍♀️," Gauff replied.

Former World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, also working as a TV analyst at the French Open, commiserated with Gauff, and said she, too, once did the same thing.

“I went to the US Open and halfway over to Flushing Meadows and I realized I didn’t bring my racquet bag and didn’t have my racquet,” she said. “No shoes, no nothing. That’s a long detour.”