Where do player clothes go? Charity, friends, and some lucky Goodwill stores

ORLANDO, Fla.—Serena Williams’s black catsuit from 2018 Roland Garros was on display at an art museum in Paris this month. Coco Gauff’s 2023 US Open kit resides at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport.

But what about the rest of the pros' playing apparel? The non-historical Nike dresses, the Adidas practice shorts, the endless shoes the players go through each year? Where does it all go?

“I've only been sponsored for maybe a year and a half, so I'm actually wondering the same thing,” Emma Navarro said at the U.S.' Billie Jean King Cup tie at the USTA National Campus last weekend.

She recently gave 40 or 50 pairs of shoes to Soles4Souls, a nonprofit that has rehomed 83 million pieces of clothes and pairs of shoes in the United States, Canada and Europe. Benefactors include school children, community organizations, and people experiencing homelessness.

Jessica Pegula keeps her favorite practice gear, like a cool jacket, but gives away all of her match outfits and most practice clothes. Vania King’s foundation, Serving Up Hope, is one of her go-tos.

“It's crazy, we get so much stuff. I've mentioned to Adidas so many times—’I wish you had a better way we can donate because you give us an excess of things that I don't really need,’” Pegula said. “Actually, I have a bunch of stuff in my car here that I need to give to the USTA.”

She reuses the USA national team tracksuit and match kits that she wore at BJK Cup. “These are the same ones I wore for United Cup. The colors are the same.”

Belgian Elise Mertens sends boxes of her kits to Africa, but a lot of pro tennis kits wind up closer to home, with friends, family—and bargain shoppers.

“Goodwill Sarasota,” says U.S. captain Lindsay Davenport. when asked where her tennis gear lands now.

Pegula and Caroline Dolehide also clear out their closets at Goodwill (in Boca Raton and Lake Nona in Florida), among other destinations. When Dolehide was growing up in Chicago, she and her dad would take her shoes downtown and give them away on the streets.

“I've had that ingrained in me since I was a kid. Growing up in Chicago, we saw it all,” she says.

She also gives items to fans who ask.

“A lot of fans at World TeamTennis have wanted my jersey-type things that say my last name on the back. I just send them out to them,” Dolehide says. “The visors and stuff go to kids. The kids love them,” she said, adding that her two sisters also take some hand-me-downs.

Actually, I have a bunch of stuff in my car here that I need to give to the USTA. Jessica Pegula

Lauren Davis kept the Diadora outfit from her classic third-round match against Simona Halep at the 2018 Australian Open, which ended 15-13 in the third set. Most of her kits go to Serving Up Hope and a family friend who can fit into the clothes of a player 60 years her junior.

“She just loves them. She’s in her 80s and plays tournaments,” Davis says.

Davis gave fellow American Nicole Melichar-Martinez the idea of hanging on to favorite Diadora gear. She also keeps sentimental pieces, like the Wimbledon whites from her 2018 mixed doubles title run, and her tailored Team USA blazer and jeans from the 2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Tokyo.

The avid tennis and pickleball members in her immediate family have first dibs on everything else. Melichar-Martinez gives remainders to her mother-in-law to take back to Colombia for junior players and charities. Diadora usually sends the No. 7–ranked doubles player five dresses, four or five skirts and shirts, and 10 to 15 practice outfits to last a few months, plus new shoes when she requests them.

Taylor Townsend, who doesn’t have a clothing sponsor, donates racquet and equipment, but not kits.

“I keep everything that I have because I spend my hard-earned money on my clothes. I have to buy 10 Lululemon dresses. What if I want to run it back a couple seasons later?” she says.

Some clothes wind up in the fundraising pipeline. Players give signed items and rackets to their own foundations or ones they support. Dealers often buy those items to resell to collectors.

Prestige Memorabilia deals exclusively in tennis relics. Owner Matt Cashin, a former collegiate tennis player, purchased Roger Federer’s signed match shirt from the 2018 Australian Open from Federer’s foundation and auctioned it for $33,000. In January, Rafael Nadal’s racquet from the 2007 Roland Garros final fetched $118,000.

“Forensic experts were able to determine that it was used on championship point by linking up different marks and scuffs on the racket,” Cashin says.

Overall, a minority of player clothing ends up at auction, he says.

“There have been very few of Serena’s clothes or racques on the collector market.”

Someone should check the charity stores in Palm Beach. Weirder things have been found at Goodwill than a Virgil Abloh original.