Coco Gauff has opened up on her fashion choices and revealed her mother needed to step in when she became a little too obsessed with hoodies.
The French Open champion stormed to a comfortable 6-1, 6-0 win over Uchijima Moyuka in her first match at athe Wuhan Open on Wednesday, as she coped well in sweltering hot conditions that have proved to be too much some other players in the draw.
Responding to a question from Tennis365 in Wuhan, Gauff opened up on her passion for fashion, as she revealed her tastes have evolved over the years with the input of her mother.
“I used to be a hoodie connoisseur. I owned, like, 70-something hoodies,” she said.
“My mom had told me I had to stop buying hoodies and then, I don’t know. I think when I turned, like maybe 17 or 18, I just stopped.
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“Honestly, now I don’t really grab a hoodie unless I go to the airport. But yeah, I think that was just kind of like I didn’t know what my fashion was going to be. So I feel like I was just conserving myself.
“I’m a lot more expressive of what I wear on and off the court and yeah, it’s really fun. I like wearing clothes. I’m not very talented in a lot of things, so I think clothes are just a way to express myself.”
When asked what her favourite clothing is now, Gauff suggested she is widening her options.
“It just depends on the mood. Some days I wake up feeling really feminine and feel like wearing skirts and stuff, and other days I wake up feeling like a tomboy,” she said.
“It just kind of depends on what my mood is, which is why it’s like always hard for me to plan outfits in advance because I never know what I’m going to feel like in the moment.”
Gauff has a role in the design of the clothing she wears on court with her sponsors New Balance and enjoys the input she has into that process.
“New Balance and I work really close together with them,” she said. “I don’t design every kit, not everything, but a lot of the things we do are inspirations of things that I pull from fashion, like magazines or stuff off court and things like that.
“One of the things that I was really like part of was the one I wore at Wimbledon. I really wanted to wear lace on the court, and it was so beautiful. I wish I could have played longer in it.
“Next year I want to try a corset situation with a little less lace, so we’ll see. But I’m definitely involved in the process, but I don’t do everything, though.”
Gauff is a huge attraction during the Asian swing of the WTA Tour, with big cheers everywhere she goes in Wuhan this week.
Those cheers will reach fever pitch if she lifts the title on Sunday.
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