PARIS (AP) — Coco Gauff might have earned her fifth consecutive trip to the French Open quarterfinals with a straight-set victory Monday, but she still is catching flak because she forgot to bring her rackets to a match earlier in the tournament.
The No. 2-seeded Gauff, who won the 2023 U.S. Open and was the runner-up in Paris in 2022, has been engaging in a bit of back-and-forth with another American and Roland-Garros quarterfinalist, Frances Tiafoe, over the equipment blunder.
Tiafoe teasingly called the 21-year-old Gauff “Mrs. Mature.” Gauff's retort: “I feel like maybe just playing tennis, it forces you to grow up faster for some people. Maybe not him.”
It was Tiafoe who first made that very mistake back in March, showing up for a match at the tournament in Indian Wells, California, without his rackets. He got plenty of ribbing on social media and from other players — including Gauff.
So when Gauff went to Court Philippe-Chatrier for her first-round match last week and opened her bag only to realize there weren't any rackets inside, the 27-year-old Tiafoe was only too happy to call her out.
“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’m going to keep ripping her for a long time. I’ve never seen someone (ranked No. 2) in the world have zero things in her bag. That was incredible,” said Tiafoe, who will play in the quarterfinals Tuesday.
“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 said, then added 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 acknowledged she couldn't really offer much of a retort.
“I literally told him: 'From you, I expected it. From you, it’s OK, but the fact that it happened to me ... .' Because I feel like I’m a professional person, and 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," Gauff said Monday after beating No. 20 Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-0, 7-5 in the fourth round.
“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 (hassle) for it,” she said, “and then not even six months later, I did the same thing on an even bigger stage. But I have learned my lesson, and hopefully it won’t happen again."
Next for Gauff is an all-American matchup in Wednesday's quarterfinals against No. 7 Madison Keys, who won the Australian Open in January. Keys eliminated yet another American, Hailey Baptiste, 6-3, 7-5.
As for Tiafoe's barb about “Mrs. Mature" — stemming from how Gauff carries herself on the court and off after breaking through at Wimbledon at age 15 and collecting her first Grand Slam title at 19 — she said she hears that type of comment 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.”
Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
Frances Tiafoe of the U.S. celebrates beating Germany's Daniel Altmaier during their fourth round match of the French Tennis Open, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Sunday, June 1 2025. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Coco Gauff of the U.S. plays a shot against Russia's Ekaterina Alexandrova during their fourth round match of the French Tennis Open at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Coco Gauff of the U.S. celebrates as she won the fourth round match of the French Tennis Open against Russia's Ekaterina Alexandrova at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
LOS GATOS, Calif. (AP) — Like many retirement communities, The Terraces serves as a tranquil refuge for a nucleus of older people who no longer can travel to faraway places or engaging in bold adventures.
But they can still be thrust back to their days of wanderlust and thrill-seeking whenever caretakers at the community in Los Gatos, California, schedule a date for residents — many of whom are in their 80s and 90s — to take turns donning virtual reality headsets.
Within a matter of minutes, the headsets can transport them to Europe, immerse them in the ocean depths or soar them on breathtaking hang-gliding expeditions while they sit by each other. The selection of VR programming was curated by Rendever, a company that has turned a sometimes isolating form of technology into a catalyst for better cognition and social connections in 800 retirement communities in the United States and Canada.
A group of The Terraces residents who participated in a VR session earlier this year found themselves paddling their arms alongside their chairs as they swam with a pod of dolphins while watching one of Rendever's 3D programs. “We got to go underwater and didn't even have to hold our breath!” exclaimed 81-year-old Ginny Baird following the virtual submersion.
During a session featuring a virtual ride in a hot-air balloon, one resident gasped, “Oh my God!” Another shuddered, “It's hard to watch!”
The Rendever technology can also be used to virtually take older adults back to the places where they grew up as children. For some, it will be the first time they've seen their hometowns in decades.
A virtual trip to her childhood neighborhood in New York City's Queens borough helped sell Sue Livingstone, 84, on the merits of the VR technology even though she still is able to get out more often than many residents of The Terraces, which is located in Silicon Valley about 55 miles south of San Francisco.
“It isn't just about being able to see it again, it's about all the memories that it brings back,” Livingstone said. “There are a few people living here who never really leave their comfort zones. But if you could entice them to come down to try out a headset, they might find that they really enjoy it.”
Adrian Marshall, The Terraces' community life director, said that once word about a VR experience spreads from one resident to another, more of the uninitiated typically become curious enough to try it out — even if it means missing out on playing Mexican Train, a dominoes-like board game that's popular in the community.
“It turns into a conversation starter for them. It really does connect people,” Marshall said of Rendever's VR programming. “It helps create a human bridge that makes them realize they share certain similarities and interests. It turns the artificial world into reality.”
Rendever, a privately owned company based in Somerville, Massachusetts, hopes to build upon its senior living platform with a recent grant from the National Institutes of Health that will provide nearly $4.5 million to study ways to reduce social isolation among seniors living at home and their caregivers.
Some studies have found VR programming presented in a limited viewing format can help older people maintain and improve cognitive functions, burnish memories and foster social connections with their families and fellow residents of care facilities. Experts say the technology may be useful as an addition to and not a replacement for other activities.
“There is always a risk of too much screen time," Katherine “Kate” Dupuis, a neuropsychologist and professor who studies aging issues at Sheridan College in Canada, said. “But if you use it cautiously, with meaning and purpose, it can be very helpful. It can be an opportunity for the elderly to engage with someone and share a sense of wonder.”
VR headsets may be an easier way for older people to interact with technology instead of fumbling around with a smartphone or another device that requires navigating buttons or other mechanisms, said Pallabi Bhowmick, a researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who is examining the use of VR with older adults.
“The stereotypes that older adults aren’t willing to try new technology needs to change because they are willing and want to adapt to technologies that are meaningful to them,” Bhowmick said. "Besides helping them to relieve stress, be entertained and connect with other people, there is an intergenerational aspect that might help them build their relationships with younger people who find out they use VR and say, ‘Grandpa is cool!’"
Rendever CEO Kyle Rand's interest in helping his own grandmother deal with the emotional and mental challenges of aging pushed him down a path that led him to cofound the company in 2016 after studying neuroengineering at Duke University.
“What really fascinates me about humans is just how much our brain depends on social connection and how much we learn from others,” Rand said. “A group of elderly residents who don't really know each other that well can come together, spend 30 minutes in a VR experience together and then find themselves sitting down to have lunch together while continuing a conversation about the experience.”
It's a large enough market that another VR specialist, Dallas-based Mynd Immersive, competes against Rendever with services tailored for senior living communities.
Besides helping create social connections, the VR programming from both Rendever and Mynd has been employed as a possible tool for potentially slowing down the deleterious effects of dementia. That's how another Silicon Valley retirement village, the Forum, sometimes uses the technology.
Bob Rogallo, a Forum resident with dementia that has rendered him speechless, seemed to be enjoying taking a virtual hike through Glacier National Park in Montana as he nodded and smiled while celebrating his 83rd birthday with his wife of 61 years.
Sallie Rogallo, who doesn't have dementia, said the experience brought back fond memories of the couple's visits to the same park during the more than 30 years they spent cruising around the U.S. in their recreational vehicle.
“It made me wish I was 30 years younger so I could do it again,” she said of the virtual visit to Glacier. “This lets you get out of the same environment and either go to a new place or visit places where you have been.”
In another session at the Forum, 93-year-old Almut Schultz laughed with delight while viewing a virtual classical music performance at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado and later seemed to want to play with a puppy frolicking around in her VR headset.
“That was quite a session we had there,” Schultz said with a big grin after she took off her headset and returned to reality.
Rendever CEO Kyle Rand is pictured at Salesforce Park in San Francisco on June 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)
Jim Holtshouse and his son, Mike Holtshouse, watch video through Rendever virtual-reality headsets at the Forum at Rancho San Antonio retirement community in Cupertino, Calif. on June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)
Bob Rogallo watches video through a Rendever virtual-reality headset at the Forum at Rancho San Antonio retirement community in Cupertino, Calif. on June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)
Mike Holtshouse and his father, Jim Holtshouse, watch video through Rendever virtual-reality headsets at the Forum at Rancho San Antonio retirement community in Cupertino, Calif. on June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)
Jim Holtshouse watches video through a Rendever virtual-reality headset at the Forum at Rancho San Antonio retirement community in Cupertino, Calif. on June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)
