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To get Chris Evert and Coco Gauff in the same room at the same time—aside from being a scheduling challenge of the first order—is to create the kind of energy and spark that results from a legend meeting a phenom. It’s game recognizing game.
Evert, a former longtime world number-one in the 1970s and 80s and the winner of 18 Grand Slam singles titles (six of them at the US Open, a record she shares with Serena Williams), and Gauff, who’s lately been riding a rocket to the top echelons of both American and world tennis, share more than a passion for the game. While the two have known each other casually for years, their relationship has deepened through their work with Rolex—which has been deeply involved with tennis for more than four decades, working with the everybody from Rod Laver and Roger Federer to current world-number-ones Iga Swiatek and Carlos Alcaraz, with the legends of the sport offering both strategies, support, and hard-won wisdom to the players currently making their way up.
We sat down with Evert and Gauff just as the Open was about to kick off (the latter sporting a Rolex Oyster Perpetual in steel)—to talk with them about their friendship, and about training, mentoring, cardio, drills, gadgets, must-have products. . . and, of course, pickleball. Catch Gauff s third-round match against Elise Mertens of Belgium on September 1st.
Vogue: I’m guessing you each view training in different ways. Coco, you’re competing in a legendary tournament against the world’s best and most-fit players; Chris, you’re—
Chris Evert: Trying to stay alive. (laughing)
You seem to have a pretty natural relationship—you’ve known each other for some time. But how did the notion of you, Chris, being a kind of mentor to Coco evolve after you both started working with Rolex?
Evert: I think Coco and I were always aware of each other. We first met at the Evert Tennis Academy—she was one of the leading players in her age group.
Coco Guaff: I was 12 years old. You had no clue who I was.
Evert: (laughing) I mean. . . I was meeting a lot of 12-year-olds! But as far as mentoring goes, the thing with Coco is that she’s always had a great support system—there was really no need for me to butt in and say, "Well, Coco, this is what I think you should be doing."
Honestly, I think a lot of the former players feel a responsibility that if any younger player comes up to them and asks them anything about pressure or living on the tour or the hardships that accompany fame and fortune, we are more than welcome to give them some advice.
Coco, is that something that you think about—endurance on the tour? You re not brand-new, but you’re still very much on the ascent. Are you focused so relentlessly on the moment that you re not really thinking about maintaining your health, your sanity, your finances, that kind of thing—or is that part of your whole 360 thinking?
Gauff: Long-term, I have good family support and a team around me to help guide me through those things. When I was younger, I really was just only focused on tennis, and I still focus pretty much only on tennis—but as I m getting older, I m learning about just adulting in general.
I really enjoy the life that I live right now, and I enjoy playing. It doesn t feel like work all the time. I m still learning it day by day, but I think I m getting closer to finding the balance that I like.
Evert: I think the key word that Coco just said is balance. You want to keep your feet on the ground with success, and she has really, really good parents that view her as a daughter first and a tennis player second, so I think that s the first thing. The second thing is: You re 19 now, and as you get older, you’re going to be making your own decisions, and balance, again, is the key word—you want to really pace yourself and take time off when you need it if you want to have a 15- or 20-year career. I know right now you might feel like, “I don t want to be playing 15 years from now,” but you know what? It goes fast—and you might be chasing records.
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Balance is so important, especially balancing your emotions—and you’re learning that on the court as well as off the court, and just keeping a kind of even keel and not letting the adrenaline get too high, and not letting it get too low.
Let’s talk more specifically about training. Coco, what s your main focus—aerobics, strength, on-court drills and practice? Mental, psychological training, relaxation and wellness? Or all of the above?
Gauff: Pretty much all of that. The biggest thing that I take pride in is being fit—making sure that my body isn t failing me on the court. Outside of that, it really depends on what s going on. The week before Slams are a lot more relaxed than when you have a period of just training—that s why I enjoy playing tournaments, because the matches should be easier, at least physically, than the practice. That s the mindset that I like to have: Physically, I like my practices to be harder, so when I go on court, everything seems easy.
Also, your emotions are heightened when you re playing matches, so your average couple of games or average couple of points just feel a lot more physically exhausting than what you could do with that in practice, just because of the stress levels.
On the mental side, I have a therapist, and that’s something that helps me a lot—just coping with travel, life, tennis, all of that. I try to approach each tournament with a fresh mindset, and try my best to focus on my expectations and myself, and not so much the noise around me. When my mind is clear, I m able to play a lot clearer as well. But I don t always talk about tennis—there s some other things, too.
There’s also wellness: Every couple of days I like to just take a day for myself, whether that’s getting my nails done, my hair done, or going to the beach—just things that I like to do outside of tennis. I can be caught up and wrapped into the game, because I do love it—but at the same time, it s important to take steps away.
Is there a certain part of your training that, for you, is the hardest? Is there something that you dread, like most mortals?
Gauff: Definitely the track—because you have to run a lot, and you re tired, and you have to push. Also, drills on the court. I like to change things up—I like to do rallies or play points, something a little bit more unpredictable, and sometimes drills can be repetitive—but they re very important, and tennis is a sport where you have to do things over and over and over again.
Evert: Can I be a journalist a little bit and ask you a question, Coco? What about sleeping? What about diet?
Gauff: I focus a lot on both. Sleeping, I try to get nine hours at least, every night, especially in tournaments. As for diet: During tournaments, I tend to lose weight—maybe two or three pounds as the tournaments go on—so I try to start out a little bit heavier, because I know naturally I m going to lose weight: You re not eating as much, and you re exerting more energy, and stress is another thing. The biggest thing is just fueling as much as I can—a lot of carbs and protein to try to make sure that I have energy through to the end, because really the biggest thing that I ve learned is that even though you re not hungry at the beginning of the week, especially a Slam, the feeling that you have in the first couple matches definitely affects how you could feel physically and towards the end, so I try to make sure I stay ahead of it.
Chris, have you seen an evolution of fitness among high-ranked pros? Where are you on that continuum?
Evert: In my day, it was enough to be a great tennis player—you didn t necessarily have to be a great athlete. Midway through my career, I started to go into the gym and lift and started to do cross-training, but tennis pros today are Olympic athletes. They train like Olympians, and they are the elite athletes in the world of any sport. That s why when I look at Coco, for instance—I look at her going through a tournament and she ll have three three-set matches before the finals. There also wasn t that kind of depth when I was playing. Now, you could just be exhausted in one week. That kind of athleticism has really enhanced the sport of tennis, enhanced the athletes, and I think it s going to enhance their longevity. How old is Venus Williams—42?
Gauff: 43.
Evert: Forty-three years old and she s still playing—because she has paced herself and she has been fit her whole life, and she s done everything right. Now, if you want to know my fitness nowadays, I could tell you in about three seconds: Peloton. Go Peloton! I get the arms, the shoulders, the cardio. Like Coco, I m a cardio person—I m sluggish, and I can be a bitch if I don t have my cardio. It just enhances the mental/emotional part, obviously the physical, too.
Are there any parts of your training, wellness, whatever, that other people or even you might have thought of as avant-garde, weird, eccentric, strange?
Gauff: Sometimes we do these things where I ll cover up one of my eyes and we ll do some catching-balls drills. It makes sense to me, but I don t like doing it in public, because I look like a pirate or something—but at this point, I mean, you re on tour, so you have to do it. There s also a stretch that my physio makes me do that you go upside down on some band things and it looks like you re Spider-Man. At first I thought it was just a me thing, but then I saw other players doing it, so I felt better about it, but I just look hilariously stupid doing it.
Getting massages every day is a weird thing for me, because I don t really like being touched all the time, but I can feel a difference in my body when I don t have it. Growing up, I never knew that peak athletes were doing this stuff this often, but it s pretty much after every match.
Are there any products—whether it s something for your skin or your face, or your body—that you always have with you?
Gauff: For me, just sunscreen and Aquaphor—I hate having chapped lips.
Evert: Same thing—I have Aquaphor in my car, in my purse, everywhere. And I like tinted sunscreen, because it looks like I have makeup on. I ve had melanoma once, so I don t want to get it again—I mean, in our day we didn t have sunscreen; we had baby oil.
Gauff: My dad has never put on sunscreen a day in his life. I m still trying to convince him.
Evert: Oh, yeah. Please.
Are there any devices that you travel with, or that your trainer has with you all the time?
Gauff: We have the Theragun, a foam roller, and a Hypersphere. We also have the Normatec [compression/recovery device] for legs. My fitness coach really just uses a heart monitor for when I m doing cardio stuff so you can see how fast I m recovering. That s pretty much it. Thankfully, I don t have to travel with any of that—that s on their luggage, so I just have room for clothes.
Here’s an odd one: What about pickleball? Have either of you caught on to the wave that apparently is sweeping the world?
Evert: Okay—I ll give you my opinion.
Gauff: Yeah—you go first.
Evert: I’ve played it four times in my life, but I like it for older people, just to get older people out and moving. It might not be great for 20-, 30-, 40-year olds, but when I play and I see 70- and 80-year old guys or women who can t move on the tennis court, but they re getting hand-eye coordination, they re getting a few shuffles here and there; they re getting a little competition, they re having the social aspect—I think it s fine. I think it s great if more older people are getting out and exercising. Now, in saying that, I was in Colorado two weeks ago and I played twice, two hours each time, and I went home and with vertigo, because I had whiplash. If you hit a ball that s not a dink, somebody can just slam it at you, and I remember I just whiplashed my head around, and I had vertigo for two weeks—like when the room spins? It s horrible. So I have a positive opinion, but…
Gauff: A terrible experience. I ve never played. Like Chrissie said, I do think it s good—anything to get people out of the house and moving. I ve seen some of the professional games. I actually have a friend who didn t make it on the tennis tour, and went to pickleball, and she s like the number one player in the world and she only played for like three months. I do think that tennis players are a little bit more talented… to start a sport and be at the top of the sport in less than five months? That’s... I don t know; the quality maybe is worse. That would never happen in tennis—but people are having fun. I m not going to hate on the sport. People are enjoying it. That s fine.
Evert: It s not going to take away from tennis.
Gauff: Yeah—I don t foresee that happening. People just do what they enjoy. Tennis is a hard sport to learn, and sometimes people want to get good at things fast. I could see myself, if I was not playing tennis or if I had tried to play tennis and was god awful at it, I would definitely try pickleball just to make myself feel better, because I m really competitive. I think certain people know they re never going to be good at tennis, so they try that and I think that s a good thing too. I think as long as people are having fun with it, it’s cool.
