Tennis followers normally see the fierce, hyper-focused aspect of athletes at Grand Slams, however the locker room has its personal share of behind-the-scenes comedy. Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys lately shared a joke about Coco Gauff that confirmed the lighter aspect of tour life.
Coco Gauff’s ‘She-Hulk’ Locker Room Incident
On this week’s episode of “The Player’s Box” podcast, alongside Pegula, Jennifer Brady, Alexandra Eala, and Desirae Krawczyk, the world No. 18 defined the She-Hulk story of Gauff.
“This year, we were in Australia. We were in, like, a back corner,” Keys mentioned. “And poor Coco, her locker door kept breaking. One day, she went to open it… and as soon as she opened it, she was literally like She-Hulk or something. The whole thing came off the hinges!” Keys recalled with a laugh.
Pegula, who was sitting immediately throughout from Keys, additionally chimed in in regards to the defective design. “It was those ones that… you pull it up and you slide it in,” she famous.
Pegula described strolling in to search out the door fully sideways, placing all of Gauff’s gear on full show. “She would just come in, and she’d be like, ‘I don’t know what’s going on. I’ve asked them to fix it, and they keep saying they’re going to fix it,’” Pegula shared. The sight was so humorous, she truly took an image of it.
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It was simply earlier than a match, so Gauff needed to do a chaotic fast repair. “She’d just like open it, and the door would be hanging, and she’d just shove it in the thing,” Pegula added. “She was like, ‘I don’t know what’s going on with this thing. I’ll deal with it later.’ She would go out and play her match. It was cute.”
The Australian swing, nevertheless, didn’t go as deliberate for Gauff, as she was knocked out within the quarterfinals by Elina Svitolina. The Middle East tour and Indian Wells proved equally disappointing. But most lately, she made a spectacular run at her home-state match, the Miami Open, pushing all the best way to the ultimate, though world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka received the higher of her, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.
Meanwhile, Pegula and Keys are headlining the Charleston Open, the WTA 500 occasion in South Carolina that historically kicks off the clay-court season.
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The world No. 5 entered the match seeking to construct momentum along with her balanced enjoying fashion, whereas Keys, a former champion on the occasion, shall be aiming to translate her early-season consistency right into a deep run on the distinctive inexperienced Har-Tru clay. Both are enjoying at present within the Round of 32 towards Yulia Putintseva and Donna Vekić, respectively.
For Gauff, Pegula, and Keys, the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, the Madrid Open, and the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome are what come subsequent.
