After watching Coco Gauff dominate her latest series of tennis tournaments—most recently, beating world No. 1 Iga Świątek on her way to winning the Cincinnati Open—you may wonder if there’s anything this tennis star can’t do.
“I’m not a good cook, to be honest,” the sixth-ranked tennis player in the world admits to Women’s Health. But don’t count this 19-year-old out in the kitchen just yet—Coco only started learning her way around a kitchen this summer, and she’s really enjoying herself. “It’s something that I want to get better at in the future.”
And if this year is any indication, Coco will succeed at anything she puts her mind to. The athlete is a favorite to crush the competition at this year’s U.S. Open in New York City, but she insists she doesn’t feel too much pressure around the tourney. “I’m really trusting the way that I play,” she says. “Usually I do go into this tournament with more nerves than the others, but right now, today I’m feeling really confident.”
With a new coach and team this year, Coco believes her mindset will set her apart at the U.S. Open. “There’s no secret sauce or anything that people may think. It’s just mental changes and really believing in yourself,” she says. “Seeing a different perspective on the game and just life in general has made the playing on court a lot easier and clearer.”
Coco CG1
Coco CG1
$170 at New Balance
That perspective is also apparent in her new signature New Balance tennis shoe, the Coco CG1, in the just-launched “City Brights” colorway. “I always said New York reminds me of electric colors, bright lights, bright city,” she says of the kicks, which feature neon yellow accents on a warm maroon base. She’s planned multiple coordinating outfits to rock with it during the tourney, too. “New York’s the city to try the craziest things, and it always usually is going to land.”
While Coco is changing up her sneaks for this tournament, her routine remains consistent. “I don’t do anything different on match day,” she says. “When I go to practice, I’m not doing anything intense to get in the zone. So I think in the match there’s no reason for me to try to do the same. I try to make the matches practice.”
Ahead of her matches at the U.S. Open, Coco shared with Women’s Health the meals that fuel her training and allow her to perform alongside the best tennis stars in the game—which, these days, include herself.
Breakfast means loading up on protein and carbs.
For Coco, the first meal of the day involves a balance of protein and carbohydrates. “Today, I had eggs, potatoes, sausage, and fruit,” she says. “That’s usually what [breakfast] looks like.”
This combo is a tried-and-true method for providing a long-lasting workout boost. While carbs provide energy for a workout, your muscles need the amino acids that protein provides to get stronger and repair tears. Protein also slows down how fast your body absorbs carbs, and prevents your blood sugar from spiking and then crashing.
While Coco definitely takes the healthy approach to her first meal, if she wasn’t, you know, one of the world’s greatest athletes and training to be at the top of her sport, she says she’d eat pancakes “every day.” Instead, Coco opts for fruit to satisfy her sweet tooth.
Lunch meals vary depending on her schedule.
The tennis star’s midday meal is “always different,” especially depending on if she’s got a match that day. When it’s tournament time, it’s pasta all the way. “I just love pasta, and I feel like it’s an easy way to fuel,” she says.
When she’s not gearing up for tennis, she’s all about a hearty bowl with rice or beans, chicken, and avocado—one of her favorite toppings.
She’s been testing new dinner recipes in her kitchen.
When she’s in season, dinner is almost always a protein, like salmon or chicken, with vegetables. Coco’s not big on red meat, “but every now and then” she will have a steak.
And now that she’s spending more time in the kitchen this summer, she considers the air fryer key to whipping up a quick dinner. “I think it’s the easiest thing ever, and it’s pretty easy to clean,” she says. In fact, Coco impressed herself with a recent attempt to make air fryer Brussels sprouts and salmon: “It actually did come out good!”
She has a secret ingredient to stay hydrated.
Coco’s secret to staying hydrated through long days of practice and playing tennis? Pedialyte, an electrolyte drink that “prevents dehydration and restores fluids, electrolytes, and zinc.” Apparently, Coco’s been drinking it for “a long time,” when people still thought the drink was just for babies, she jokes.
When Coco is drinking Pedialyte regularly, she’s “never had problems with cramping or dehydration,” she says. However, during matches, it’s all water all the time.
Dessert is a must.
Remember that sweet tooth? Well, Coco’s been craving brownies “a lot lately”—but her sugary treat of choice changes by the day. “After I won in Cincinnati, I had a hamburger, and after the hamburger I had ice cream,” she says. “So I like ice cream a lot, but I think brownies are probably my favorite right now.”
An hour after she won her final match in Ohio, Coco called her mom. “They were like, ‘Oh my God!’” she says of her family. “I was like, ‘You guys should have been calmed down [by] now!’” Here’s hoping the excitement is here to stay—and that there will be plenty of celebratory brownies and ice cream in Coco’s future
