Coco Gauff Wimbledon outfit: Why American tennis star is paying homage to Serena Williams at 2024 major

If Coco Gauff’s outfit on the first day at the 2024 Wimbledon looked familiar, there’s a good reason why.

The 20-year-old American’s rise to the highest level of tennis has been meteoric. She currently is ranked No. 2 in the world, and earned her first Grand Slam win of her career in 2023, taking the title at the US Open. It is the first of what are four wins at major events needed to complete the Grand Slam in tennis.

For Gauff, she can claim her second Grand Slam win in July at Wimbledon, where she is viewed as one of the favorites. It is the one major event that she has not found as much success in. She won the US Open in 2023, reached the French Open finals in 2022 and made it to the Australian Open semifinals in 2024. However, when it comes to Wimbledon, her best finish so far in her career is a berth to the fourth round, which she completed in 2019 and 2021.

This year, she has an excellent chance of advancing farther than ever before in London — and she is channeling that champion mindset through her outfit.

Gauff has not shied away from expressing herself through her clothing on the court. But her outfit in the first round of the 2024 Wimbledon certainly caused a few double-takes.

The No. 2 women’s tennis player in the world donned a white top and skirt that looked eerily similar to another American tennis sensation — Serena Williams. The seven-time Wimbledon champion wore an outfit in 2019 that was almost the exact same as Gauff’s.

It’s not the first time the two have shared similar style.

At the 2024 Australian Open, Gauff’s outfit of choice was another one that was close to replicating Williams’ clothing at the 2016 Australian Open, with a yellow tank top and matching skirt.

It’s no coincidence that the outfits line up with the Williams. Gauff told People that the clothing for the Grand Slam events are planned out well in advance of the actual competitions.

“My Grand Slam outfits are planned basically a year to two years, even maybe sometimes longer in advance,” Gauff said

So why is it that Gauff is wearing similar outfits to Serena? It’s simple.

“She’s my idol,” Gauff said to ESPN in September 2023. “The only regret I’ll have for the rest of my life is not being able to play her. There were so many tournaments where if we won an extra round and didn’t lose, I would’ve played her. But I’m still happy to just be a product of her legacy and be out here for American tennis.”

Gauff has been vocal about her admiration of Williams, her sister, Venus, and their father, Richard. She got the opportunity to face off against Venus in the first round at the 2019 Wimbledon competition, defeating one of her role models at the age of 15 years old.

While she got to play against one Williams sister, she won’t have the chance to face Serena, who has since retired from the sport to focus on her family.

“[Serena] is the GOAT,” Gauff said. “I’d hope to do half of what she did. But I’m not gonna compare myself to her.”