Beyond the Tennis Bracelet: Surveying the On-Court Jewelry of Today’s Top Players
When the 2024 tennis season kicked off in Australia, Coco Gauff–fresh off of her maiden Slam win at the U.S. Open a few months prior–was seen wearing a pearl Vivienne Westwood necklace anchored with a charm of the house’s iconic “orb.” I took a mental note, adding the piece to my list of standout jewelry sightings in recent elite tennis competition. Gauff’s choker stood out as something more fashion-forward than I was used to seeing, alongside Aryna Sabalenka’s bijoux game (she often wears Cartier) and Grigor Dimitrov’s arm candy (he showed me his impressive stack of Van Cleef Arpels Alhambra bracelets at last year’s D.C. Open).
We’re arguably in the sport’s most visible window in history–Challengers is still in theaters (Zendaya’s character, Tashi, wears a Cartier Love bracelet on screen, FYI), Roland-Garros (the French Open) wraps this weekend, Wimbledon looms, the Olympics follow and the U.S. Open concludes this peak. Tenniscore, as it has been dubbed, is at its zenith–and jewelry is perhaps its most interesting window, as it allows a view into the personal tastes and styles of the sport’s top athletes, given that their clothes are often generally within the confines of their sponsors’ designated kits.
Tennis and jewelry go hand-in-grip, and have done so for a while. There’s an entire bracelet named for the sport, thanks to Chris Evert, who wore discreet diamond bracelets during play as far back as the late ’70s. (Urban legend says that the term tennis bracelet originated when Evert broke a piece during play at the U.S. Open in 1987 when, in fact, the phrase had been in use beforehand in large part thanks to her style.) Yet the codes of tennis and jewelry have evolved in 2024–they’ve become more varied, allowing players to flex a bit of their own flair. This is especially interesting considering the “tunnel walk” phenomenon hasn’t really hit tennis the way it has other high-visibility sports–we don’t really get a glimpse at player style unless it’s through their personal Instagrams.
Of course, there’s a difference between off-duty and on-court aesthetics–this survey focuses on match-play styling. Most of the athletes we talked to (from both the WTA Tour and the ATP Tour) say that simple is best for efficiency, but that grouping adds personality. “A little layering, a little ear stack, multiple bracelets,” says Jessica Pegula, when asked about best practices for playing with jewelry.
Gauff says “I’m a silver jewelry girl. Usually, I wear just one necklace. And I usually have earrings in. I like Coach earrings, actually, because they have a C.” Sloane Stephens notes: “When I play, I love to wear a diamond choker–something cute that stands out, but that is also subtle.” She adds that it’s smart to wear items that are relatively minimal, because sunscreen can rub off more prominently on bigger pieces.