{"id":415291,"date":"2026-01-17T12:25:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T12:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/415291\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T12:25:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T12:25:12","slug":"francisco-lindor-storm-reid-surprise-gauff-at-australian-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/415291\/","title":{"rendered":"Francisco Lindor, Storm Reid surprise Gauff at Australian Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

Media day at WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz tournaments are generally predictable, with routine commitments and expected questions from journalists.<\/p>\n

But it was anything but for World No. 3 Coco Gauff in Melbourne on Friday.<\/p>\n

At the end of her opening press conference, the two-time Grand Slam champion was asked a rather unconventional question by a “journalist.”<\/p>\n

“I’m wearing your shoes,” he said as a surprised Gauff started laughing. “Do you think I could be your doubles partner this weekend?”<\/p>\n

The questioner was Francisco Lindor, shortstop for the New York Mets and five-time Major League Baseball All-Star.<\/p>\n

“Yeah, for sure,” she replied. “You’d be the best doubles partner. I’ll put you at the net cause you have good reactions.”<\/p>\n

“I’m not sure how good I can be,” he said, “but with your shoes, I’ve got a better chance.”<\/p>\n

The shoes that Lindor was referencing are part of New Balance’s Coco Gauff Signature Collection<\/a>. Lindor and Gauff are both New Balance athletes.<\/p>\n

This wasn’t the first time that the two American stars connected. The 32-year-old — a noted tennis lover who has attended the Miami Open, Mubadala Citi DC Open and US Open, and toured the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club — previously showed up in support of Gauff when she had a New Balance pop-up event.<\/p>\n

Lindor also gave Gauff a Mets jersey his too.<\/p>\n

And that wasn’t the only moment that took Gauff by surprise.<\/p>\n

Prior to the press conference, as she was getting ready to take the court for her practice session, she heard someone say “Hey, stranger” from the umpire’s chair.<\/p>\n

It was actress Storm Reid, of The Last of Us and Euphoria fame.<\/p>\n

“Oh my god,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I’m nervous,” Reid said after they exchanged a hug. “I’m excited. I feel like I’m playing, and that’s ridiculous.”<\/p>\n

Reid stayed to watch the practice session and was in awe of Gauff’s talents, especially seeing them up close.<\/p>\n

“It’s so mesmerizing what she does,” the Emmy Award winner said. “The hand-eye coordination. The skill is ridiculous.”<\/p>\n

Gauff, seeded third, will play Kamilla Rakhimova in the first round on Sunday. Gauff’s career-best result at the Australian Open came in 2024, when she reached the semifinals. She lost in the quarterfinals last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Media day at WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz tournaments are generally predictable, with routine commitments and expected questions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593,5452],"class_list":["post-415291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-text"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}