Coco Gauff has been basking in the glory of her French Open triumph last week. The world No. 2 beat Aryna Sabalenka at Court Philippe-Chatrier and captured her second career Grand Slam. As a tennis pro, the 21-year-old has been swaying sports lovers across the globe. There’s no doubt about it. However, she’s also aced the game of fashion lately, thanks to an incredible association with New Balance. And it’s gotten even better with the Miu Miu collaboration—revealed back in April. But do you know it’s got a wild connection with this year’s men’s singles champion at the Roland Garros, Carlos Alcaraz and World No. 1 Jannik Sinner? Sounds bizarre? Well, Gauff just spilled the beans on how these two ATP superstars inspired her to make a big style-centric move.
For the uninitiated, World No. 2 and five-time slam champion Alcaraz has got a million-dollar Nike deal. It dates back to 2019, when the Spaniard first signed a contract with the $93.35 billion company (according to Macrotrends). The agreement is to run for a decade with Alcaraz netting $15-$20 million annually, according to Sports Illustrated. He’s also had a contract with Louis Vuitton since 2023. Similarly, Sinner also signed a ten-year, $150 million deal with Nike in 2022 for footwear and apparel. But guess what? He’s also got an exclusive deal with another luxury brand, Gucci. Back in July 2022, ahead of Wimbledon, the three-time slam champion became the $16.4 billion brand’s ambassador. Needless to say, both these ATP pros have been working with some of the biggest luxury fashion powerhouses. It seems like this aspect really impacted Gauff to come up with her own big brand move. How?
In an episode of the Nice Talk podcast by Nikki Ogunnaike, dated June 12, Gauff reflected on the New Balance x Miu Miu collaboration. She’s already flaunted a custom look based on this crossover last month at the Italian Open. When the host admired her looks based on this collaboration, she revealed, “Yeah, and that’s what I was so excited to do it, because I don’t like to do things that don’t feel natural.”
Image Credits: Coco Gauff/Instagram
She then mentioned Alcaraz and Sinner as major inspiration behind joining Miu Miu. “I did a vision meeting with New Balance, and I told them I wanted to work with the high fashion brand, whether it was Miu Miu Prada or Louis Vuitton, or one of those brands I just really wanted to work with, especially because I saw Jannik Sinner doing something with Gucci. I saw Carlos Alcaraz.” She continued, “I was like, okay, I know I’m not like four or five slams like them, but I was like, I think I can get somebody.”
For her, things went smoothly in this crossover since “Miu Miu and New Balance worked together before; it was very natural.” Plus, Gauff got to try her own looks as well. To her surprise, she was given a lot of freedom in choosing custom outfits. As a result, she had “a lot of different options.”
Apart from fashion, Gauff also talked about her tennis journey going forward. In just a few weeks, she’s set to begin her Wimbledon campaign. Which means she won’t enjoy her time on clay anymore, where she’s been amazing. After all, she’s a French Open champion now. But guess what? The world No. 2 has unleashed a bizarre strategy to prepare in the best way possible for the upcoming challenge.
Coco Gauff wants to “forget” her French Open glory
Unlike clay, where Coco Gauff has been mostly successful, she’s struggled a lot on grass. Especially at the All England Club. She made a dream start at the event back in 2019. Being just 15, she beat 7-time slam queen Venus Williams in the first round. Eventually, the then teenager went on to reach the fourth round before losing to former World No. 1 Simona Halep.
Since then, however, her subsequent campaigns have been lackluster. In the last four Wimbledon editions, she hasn’t gone past the fourth round. Let alone entering the semis or the summit clash. But it looks like she has a unique tactical move this year to overcome this challenge. In the same interaction with Ogunnaike, the American WTA icon said, “Going into Wimbledon, I definitely feel pretty confident. And I’ve done fourth round there a few times, so I’m just really focused on trying to get past that stage.”
Sharing what she’s going to do to deliver her best performance on grass, Gauff added, “I don’t know how I’m going to feel once I step on the court, but I do think that I can give myself the best shot, just trying to keep the moment as minimized as possible, and kind of trying to forget this Roland Garros win, honestly.” Seriously? Why such an approach, though?
Gauff explained, “I think just to stay hungry. And I think after US Open, kind of the rest of that season, I was just like, OK, well, when US Open season’s almost over, I’m pretty satisfied. And I don’t want to approach the rest of the season in that same standpoint, also because of the fact that there are two other grand slams that are very possible for me to win.”
While currently Gauff’s embracing her historic French Open win, she “will definitely try to forget it” upon entering Wimbledon next month. What are your thoughts on the two-time slam champion’s prospects on grass at the All England Club? Let us know in the comments below.
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