Coco Gauff Is the Tennis World’s New Fashion ‘It Girl’

Tennis phenom Coco Gauff is only 19, but she’s already been making headlines for years. There was her historic defeat of Venus Williams at Wimbledon in 2019, a feat she achieved when she was only 15; another staggering victory over Williams the following year at the Australian Open; becoming the youngest U.S. player to make the Olympic team; and a number of other crowning accomplishments for the woman who’s been dubbed the tennis world’s Bright New Hope.

Even if you’re not an impassioned fan of the sport, elite tennis regularly produces talented young women whose mesmerizing athleticism and poise generate a uniquely fierce glamour. Tennis isn’t Hollywood, but the courts, like red carpets, are electrifying stages upon which to craft a star’s image. Gauff, following in the fashionable footsteps of the Williams sisters and Maria Sharapova before her, is just the latest exemplar of that phenomenon.

The timing couldn’t be more appropriate; the world has recently caught on to the allure of tennis dressing, to an extent. The “tenniscore” trend was everywhere last summer, but the layman’s interpretation of racquet-adjacent attire tends to skew toward retro knits and midi skirts. It’s much more interesting to clock what the real tennis pros are wearing, because if they’re at all aesthetically inclined, they’re challenged with splitting the difference between asserting their creativity and distracting audiences from their play.

Naomi Osaka, for example—the 25-year-old Japanese star who’s one of Gauff’s most obvious competitors in her age group—backs up her outlandish mastery of the sport with avant-garde explosions of color that loudly affirm her creativity. She wore a Louis Vuitton cape and corset decorated with koi fish, a nod to her Japanese heritage, to the Met Gala in 2021, and she looks just as good in baggy street style as fellow designer fiend Billie Eilish.

Meanwhile, Gauff, who beat German player Laura Siegemund in the first round of the U.S. Open on Monday, is a subtler fashion head with understated taste and a keen eye toward history. She’s had a deal with New Balance since she was 14 years old and her signature shoe, the Coco CG1, is a unisex sneaker whose design pays clear homage to Air Jordans, the Michael Jordan-inspired Nikes whose success changed fashion and athletics forever.

Gauff can lately be seen languidly modeling New Balance’s collaboration with Aimé Leon Dore, the beloved insider brand founded by Queens-bred designer Teddy Santis. But on the court, the Atlanta native has unmistakably communicating her dominance with her clothing. (Evoking Michael Jordan with your first signature shoe, after all, means you certainly aren’t shy about planting a flag.)

In 2019—again, when she was just 15 years old—Gauff, whose given name is Cori, wore white New Balances to the Australian Open with “Call Me Coco” scrawled on them in black ink.

On Monday, she kept her New Balance silhouette simple—cropped tank, short skort—but the ensemble glowed bright green, the precise color of a tennis ball. “It’s my game,” the outfit seems to say.

That wasn’t the first time she made a sartorial splash at the U.S. Open. At last year’s tournament, Gauff went with a checkered blue and red set that had the words “New York City” splashed across the front in lime green and purple. Her nails, meanwhile, were long and tapered and dipped in pink at the ends.

Gauff may play with color, but it’s doubtful that you’ll ever catch her thrashing an opponent while clad in a tutu, a ballerina-inspired flourish favored by all-time great Serena Williams. Rather, Gauff likes to keep it simple. There are no one-shoulder moments; no tulle. She’s playing to win, and she is mercenary about it. During matches, her facial expression is as impassive and unchangeable as a stone.

Whether Gauff will capitalize on her “It Girl” status off the court with more designer collaborations has yet to be seen, but one can certainly imagine her thriving if she chooses to do so—especially if she continues crushing it at the ongoing U.S. Open. Last week, days after wearing a shimmery, show-stopping gold slip dress to the WTA Gala in New York, Gauff talked up her fashion prowess at the U.S. Open media day, telling journalists that her favorite designers at the moment are Miu Miu, Ganni, and Fendi.

“I really do love fashion,” Gauff told the press. “I love makeup. I love that type of thing. I just haven’t really thought about how I would build that into a brand, per se.”

No rush, Coco. My credit card is ready when you are.