Coco Gauff and Frances Tiafoe embarked on a hilarious rally during a charity match at the Australian Open.
The American duo came up against each other in a mixed doubles encounter for Tennis Plays for Peace, an initiative which supports humanitarian relief operations in Ukraine.
Gauff was paired with Dayana Yastremska, while Tiafoe stepped onto the court alongside Marta Kostyuk.
Their Ukrainian partners got to take a well earned break when Gauff and Tiafoe got into a marathon rally, firing hilarious insults at each other as they did so.
Why did Coco Gauff trash talk Frances Tiafoe?
At the start of the rally, Tiafoe told Gauff he was going to ‘break her down’, with the 18-year-old responding in entertaining fashion.
“Yeah okay,” she said. “I’ll win this rally, bro. My backhand and your forehand? I’ll take this all day.”
With both players focusing fully on eachother, Yastremska and Kostyuk were left redundant, with the latter deciding to have a sit down on court.
After some more friendly banter and raucous laughter from the crowd, Gauff won the rally.
She later shared a video of the encounter with the caption: “waited my whole life for this 💀😭”. Tiafoe later joked that Gauff would never “let me live it down”.
Video: Watch Coco Gauff’s hilarious rally with Frances Tiafoe
What are Coco Gauff’s chances at the Australian Open?
Gauff is considered to have an outside chance at winning the Australian Open, particularly after an impressive 2022.
The world number seven reached the final of the French Open, losing to Iga Świątek, before embarking on a quarter-final run at the US Open.
Gauff has started 2023 well, triumphing at the ASB Classic. She defeated Rebeka Masarova in the final of the WTA 250 event, claiming her third career title.
Świątek, Ons Jabeur, Caroline Garcia and Jessica Pegula are among the other favourites to win this year’s Australian Open, which gets underway on Monday.
Tiafoe also could have a shot at winning the men’s tournament at the Australian Open. He showed off his Grand Slam credentials last year, reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon and the US Open semi-final.
Read more: Australian Open 2023: Dates, tickets, live stream, odds and everything we know so far
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