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 girly 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.
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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
Barilla Al Bronzo Mezze Rigatoni
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 towards 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!'”
