Tennis champ Coco Gauff likes to get all dolled up now and again — except when she hits the court.

“In tennis, if you wanna wear makeup, you can wear makeup,” Gauff, 21, said in a Wednesday, August 27, interview with Vogue. “I know Serena [Williams] has worn eyeliner. I think Venus [Williams] still does the eyeliner. You can wear a full beat if you want to.”

Gauff, however, has a specific reason for going au natural during tennis matches and championships.

“I just sweat too much and, like, makeup would be all over,” she explained. “I know the WNBA girlies kill it down with the beats. If I could wear makeup, I would.”

Gauff, who only wears sunscreen on game days, tries to deflect from her makeup-free look with a killer ensemble.

“I do have a cute outfit to take away the attention from my face,” she quipped. “I plan my outfits for tournaments well in advance because I like to know what I’m wearing [and I will get] my nails done.”

Gauff is currently competing in the US Open tournament in New York City.

“[My nails] will be something different to match the outfit for that,” she told Vogue. “Then, also my hair. I just got my hair down, and I know when all three things are done, which is very rare, but for grand slams I try to make sure that all three are done [and then] I feel the best on court.”

Gauff sported a cropped, red New Balance T-shirt and a white tennis skirt for her Thursday, August 28, match against Donna Vekic. For her nails, she opted for burgundy polish with green tennis-themed accents on top. (Gauff won, eliminating Vekic from the tournament 7-6, 6-2.)

Whenever Gauff’s tournaments conclude, she has no issue getting all glammed up to hit the town.

“Jackie Aina, Alissa Ashley, Monet Mcmichael, all of them have basically taught me how to do my makeup — especially being a young Black girl,” she said, naming the popular cosmetics influencers. “Like, long time ago, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to color-match my skin [and] that we had to do things a little bit differently. They taught me a lot when it comes to that.”

There are many luxuries in a pro tennis star’s life—free time is not one of them. Twenty-one-year-old Coco Gauff, who won her second Grand Slam title this year and is currently the number 3 ranked female tennis player in the world, savors those morsels of time by connecting with friends and family, watching movies, and, when she can, honing her skills in the kitchen.

Since moving out of her parents house and into her own place last year, Gauff has been sharing her cooking journey with fans on TikTok and Instagram, documenting her successes and flops in stride. “You know, it’s been up and down,” Gauff says. “I go through some weeks where I’m an Uber Eats girlie, and then I go through some weeks where I’m actually cooking and trying new recipes. I’m not a to-taste cook, I have to follow the recipe down to the T.”

While Gauff is a savvy social media native, her cooking videos are candid and unpretentious. It’s less Nara-Smith-whipping-up-homemade-Spaghetti-O’s and more friend-on-FaceTime-making-dinner. Some of her culinary ventures include a creamy Turkish pasta, homemade chicken tenders with Texas toast, and sweet potato pie and banana bread for a Cousinsgiving celebration. And now she’s teamed up with Naked Smoothies to create a signature pineapple-and-orange-flavored protein smoothie set to hit store shelves this fall.

We caught up with Gauff ahead of the US Open to talk a little bit more about her burgeoning culinary journey. She shared with us some of her go-to cooking tools and ingredients, the food that filled her dinner table growing up, and how she gets the nutrition she needs to power long matches and a hectic touring schedule.

Louisiana-style hot sauce

When she was growing up, Gauff’s Louisiana-born father was the cook of the family, so classics like red beans and rice and gumbo were in regular rotation for dinner. “Basically anything Southern reminds me of home,” Gauff says. Naturally, Louisiana hot sauce also found its way to the table. “I would love to try more local Louisiana hot sauces, but I really love Crystal.”

A reliable bag of pasta

Pasta has been essential pre-match fuel for Gauff since the beginning of her tennis career and is a staple of her on-the-road diet. When she’s home, Gauff says, she tries to experiment with new recipes—but it’s hard to resist the pull of a one-pot meal when you’re short on time and energy. “Pasta’s one of the easier things to cook, so I do find myself gravitating toward that,” Gauff says.

To keep things interesting, she mixes up her pasta shapes and sauces. “For pesto I like to use longer pasta like spaghetti,” Gauff says. “But whenever I’m doing a spicier dish, I like rigatoni.”

A protein-packed smoothie

According to Gauff, Naked originally approached her about a partnership after her mid-match fruit salads went viral back in 2023. “At first I thought they were joking,” she says. “But they were like, ‘No, we really want you!’”