From court to street: Taylor Fritz, Coco Gauff, Zheng Qinwen and more elevated off-court fashion in 2024

Catch up with Fashion Week on Baseline:

• The year of Tenniscore: How the 'Challengers' effect transformed tennis fashion in 2024
• From big bows to bold prints, who wore on-court fashion best in the 2024 tennis season?
• How Taylor Swift, Maria Sharapova, Morgan Riddle and more aced courtside style in 2024

We already know who aced their on-court looks in 2024, but how did that style translate to streetwear?

Coco Gauff

Already a style icon on-court as the face of New Balance on the tour, Gauff's signature shoe got an upgrade in 2024 with the August launch of the CG2s. While Gauff wears the sneakers to compete, the versatile high-tops can also be worn off-court, and tennis sneakerheads had no shortage of styles to add to their collections last year. Before the second line launched, Gauff's "Grey Days" CG1s were sold in May in a sand-stone hue, while the inaugual CG2 "Power and Grace" colorway that Gauff wore for the US Open featured oxidized blue and firefly yellow, which were "inspired by the Statue of Liberty and the glowing lights of the city."

As far as the American's personal style, she got to show off many glam looks last year: on the cover of magazines like *Vogue*,where she was clad in high-fashion brands like Chanel, Dior and Miu Miu; at galas for *TIME*'s Women of the Year celebration and at her third WTA Finals, where she wore custom Prada and Yousef Akbar, respectively; and as a model for brands like American Eagle and the Black-owened beauty brand Carol's Daughter, which featured her natural hair.

Grigor Dimitrov

After the Bulgarian switched apparel sponsors from Asics to Lacoste at the end of 2023, his relationship with the French brand quickly blossomed. No stranger to high-fashion photo shoots, having previously posed for Giorgio Armani and Vogue, among others, Dimitrov's collaboration with Lacoste went deeper in 2024 as he bared all—almost!—and modeled for his sponsor's new underwear line.

"[T]he Lacoste Underwear range breathes new life into loungewear and underwear," claimed the brand in January. "To embody it, Grigor Dimitrov's charm is at its best. Humble and stylish, the champion posed in all simplicity, delighted to represent a collection that everyone can identify with."

(But when Dimitrov wanted to add some more layers to his look, he looked no further than Bulgarian designer Vladimir Nikolov, who designed Dimitrov and Novak Djokovic two custom denim jackets featuring their likeness ahead of a September exhibition in Sofia.)

Naomi Osaka

Looking for someone else who appreciates custom pieces? Look no further than Naomi Osaka. The former world No. 1's on-court fashion hardly missed a beat in her comeback season following the 2023 birth of her daughter Shai, and her off-court stylings were equally eye-popping.

In March, ahead of her return to the Miami Open, Osaka was gifted a custom Jeff Hamilton-designed black leather jacket inspired by Hard Rock Stadium's Formula One race, putting her in rarified rarefied air with others who've received a handcrafted piece, including Jay-Z and Madonna, Nelson Mandela and Bill Clinton, and many NBA stars including her idol, Kobe Bryant.

As her latest "N.O." capsule drops with Nike sprung to life in the spring and for the holidays, Osaka served at galas and on red carpets throughout the year. During the Paris Olympics, she rubbed shoulders with stars and fellow Olympians including Rosalia, Serena Williams and LeBron James at the Louis Vuitton Foundation's "Prelude to the Olympics"; was honored by GQ for the cowboy-style 'fit she wore to its Men of the Year honors; modeled in dreamy-white drapes for TAG Heuer's Aquaracer Professional 200 Solargraph watches; and wore a self-described Barbie-inspired look for the premiere of the Belgian tennis-themed film, *Julie Stays Quiet*, in December.

Just to name a few.

Andrey Rublev

Andrey Rublev's signature clothing project, Rublo, grew exponentially in 2024, and even featured the Russian signing a multi-year deal with K-Swiss for a forthcoming shoe collaboration. But he lands on this list not for what he wears on his body or his feet, but for how he accessorizes his looks.

Rublev's season kicked off in January with a 15th career ATP singles title in Hong Kong, and during the trophy ceremony, he showcased the latest piece from his collection of luxury watches from the Italian brand Bulgari. Rublev became Bulgari’s first tennis ambassador in 2021,

Later in the year, Rublev became a different kind of trendsetter amongst tour players when he wore Ra Optic’s “blue-light blocking lenses," in red-orange and gold, in an attempt to filter out harmful blue light from television and mobile phone screens that can affect the body’s sleep cycle. While the jury's still out on whether or not the glasses had the desired effect, other players including Alexander Bublik, Novak Djokovic and Elena Rybakina followed suit.

Zheng Qinwen

Zheng Qinwen blossomed as a bonafide WTA star in 2024, not just for her stellar on-court season, historic Olympic gold medal, and year-end Top 10 finish, but for a ballooning off-court endorsement portfolio that \*Sportico \*valued at $15 million.

With a sponsorship portfolio that also includes on-court apparel deals with Nike and Wilson racquets, a testimonee for Rolex watches, as well as regional deals with Lancôme cosmetics, Audi and Gatorade, as well as McDonald's, Zheng says she has quickly become comfortable with her myriad off-court demands, calling them "part of the job" ahead of the US Open.

Her off-court style in 2024 was highlighted by a tweed wool-blend Miu Miu mini dress and Rolex watch she wore for and Australian Open runner-up trophy shoot, where she celebrated becoming the second-ever Chinese woman to reach a Grand Slam singles final; a lookbook of street wear, formal attire, and athleisure apparel styled by Wang Hao for August's issue of *Harper's Bazaar* in China; and a historic autumn cover shoot for *Vogue China* where she was styled by Vivienne Sun, and pictured in several daring hair and makeup looks while wearing luxe brands including Balenciaga, Nike and Rahul Mishra.

Taylor Fritz

Just as he rounded into form on court in the best season of his career, reaching the US Open and ATP Finals championship matches, Taylor Fritz also found his footing in the fashion game over the last year.

Most notably, the American joined Matteo Berrettini as a face of Hugo Boss, ditching his longtime sponsor Nike for the German apparel brand ahead of Indian Wells, and that partnership wasn't just limited to on-court modeling. After posing for Haute Living and InStyle magazines, and walking the runway for Hermès last year, the American's style portfolio took another step forward (no pun intended) when he and Berrettini walked for BOSS at Milan Fashion Week, and as he praised the rise of "tenniscore" in a September interview with Town & Country.

(But the bleach-blonde hair experiment he tried in October, as we now know, was less of a hit. Well, they can't all be winners.)

Aryna Sabalenka

As she continues to "dream" about a custom Nike line on-court, Aryna Sabalenka's off-court fashion game is already befitting her status as the world's No. 1 player.

"Fashion is something I'm really crazy about," she told *Baseline *this fall, and Sabalenka delivered on those words in not one, but two, glamorous Grand Slam-winning photo shoots in 2024, as well as a surprise appearance at Off-White's New York Fashion Week show after her coronation in Queens.

For her second straight outing with the Australian Open trophy, Sabalenka chose a cream-tinted white dress with a fringed base, and a pair of slingback, open-toed low heels as she strutted around picturesque locales at Melbourne's Carlton Gardens. At the US Open, Sabalenka matched a jaw-dropping Audemars Piguet timepiece with a red Casablanca column dress “inspired by ancient Greece” that featured a gold-tone C-shaped buckle and a thigh-high split on an asymmetric hemline.

Frances Tiafoe

It's no secret that Frances Tiafoe loves, and thrives in, the brightest of spotlights, and the man who never met a print he didn't like was dubbed "the most stylish man in tennis" byHarper's Bazaarthis year.

Owner of a massive collection of basketball jerseys, wore for practice, relaxing or even when out on the town, Tiafoe takes his off-court style cues from a host of NBA players, he said, including Jerami Grant, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Kyle Kuzma. Some of his favorite pieces, accoring to the magazine, are "bomber jackets, baggy pants, loud sneakers, denim everything, and chunky jewelry."

“A statement is a statement, whether it’s good or bad," Tiafoe told the magazine, crediting his longtime girlfriend and fellow tennis player Ayan Broomfield for helping him tap into his personal style. "It makes noise and gets people talking, and I think that’s a win in itself.”