PARIS -- To hear tennis star Coco Gauff tell it, basketball star Jimmy Butler assured her his Miami Heat would make it to the NBA Finals before they were guaranteed of so much as participating in the playoffs.
Before the French Open began, 2022 runner-up Gauff -- who lives in South Florida and is an avid Heat fan, one who uses the pronoun "we" when talking about the team -- mentioned that she had "a funny story about Jimmy Butler, but I'm going to save it" until Miami was done playing in the Eastern Conference finals.