World No. 4 Coco Gauff had a funny encounter with Golden State Warriors star Jimmy Butler at Indian Wells, California. Butler, who is in rehab after suffering a season-ending ACL injury last month, was at the BNP Paribas Open to watch some tennis action.
At the prestigious 1000-level tournament, the $80 million worth NBA superstar (according to Celebrity Net Worth) met Gauff after one of her practice sessions and jokingly complained about her favorite team, the Miami Heat, being the cause of his injury.
Both Gauff and Butler laughed at their brief conversation, which ended with the six-time NBA All-Star joking that Gauff was now a Warriors fan.
“By the way, your team hurt me, by the way. The Heat hurt me. Yeah, the Heat hurt me. I just wanna say. Switch alliances. And remember, Steph is on my team now, so like, everybody loves Steph,” Butler told Gauff.
While the Warriors have said they will take a call on Butler’s participation in the league next season, they continue to monitor his rehab in San Francisco. Meanwhile, Gauff struggled with a left forearm injury at the BNP Paribas Open, forcing her to retire midway through her third-round match against Alexandra Eala on Sunday night.
Coco Gauff Explained the Issue That Forced Her to Retire at Indian Wells
After announcing her retirement from the WTA 1000 event, Gauff explained the physical strain she suffered during the match against Eala.
“I felt it, like, the second game of the first set. I guess a simple way to put it, it felt like a firework was going off inside of my arm, and then my whole arm felt like it was on fire,” Gauff said.
“We’re going to figure out what it is tomorrow, but based on the feeling, it’s probably something nerve-related. Never had anything like this before, never felt anything like this before. And then as the match played, it got progressively worse, even when I wasn’t using my arm on shots that I wasn’t even using my left arm for,” she added.
The two-time Grand Slam champion has said she will undergo additional MRI scans to determine the cause of the pain, but has reassured her fans that she will be healthy in time for the Miami Open, beginning March 17.
Also read:
Coco Gauff Reveals Exactly What Hapened To Her Arm In Shock Indian Wells Retirement
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