INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Before heading to the desert for the upcoming BNP Paribas Open, Coco Gauff got her glam on at the 97th Academy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday.
And though Gauff — the 2023 US Open champion — is accustomed to hard work and grueling preparation ahead of tournaments, even she was surprised by just how intense the process of getting ready for the red carpet can be for Hollywood’s biggest night.
The 20-year-old told reporters at media day Tuesday that she started getting her hair and makeup done at 9:30 a.m. — the event started at 4 p.m. local time — before finally putting on her custom Miu Miu dress.
“It was a super long day,” Gauff said. “It was cool to just be in a different space and a different world.”
Gauff said she worked with Miu Miu to create two looks: one for the award ceremony and another for the Vanity Fair after party.
“They picked out a bunch of sketches for me and colors for me to choose from, and we settled on that one,” Gauff said of the cascading yellow dress she wore to the ceremony. “Then for the Vanity Fair [party] same situation, a bunch of things for me to choose from.
“It was super cool just to play dress-up. I don’t think I’ve ever worn a gown quite like that with a whole train. It was kind of hard to walk in with a lot of people stepping on the back of the dress so I would have to kind of carry the dress with me as I walked. The Vanity Fair was my favorite just because it was a little bit more practical.”
Vogue named Gauff to its list of “best dressed stars” at the Oscars.
Gauff, ranked No. 3 in the world, said she was “surprised” at how many people recognized her throughout the evening — but one stood out more than the rest.
“The person I was most surprised about was definitely Samuel L. Jackson,” she said. “He came up to me, I took a photo with him, he took one with me, and then introduced me to Whoopi Goldberg, which was really cool.”
Gauff added that she was excited to have met Halle Bailey, and that she ran into Ben Stiller, who has been a courtside regular at events such as the US Open and the BNP Paribas Open in recent years.
“I wasn’t so surprised at him because I know he’s a tennis fan, but I told him he has to come to one of my matches, because I only really see him at the men’s matches so I told him he has to come,” Gauff said.
Gauff, who reached the semifinals at Indian Wells last season, starts her 2025 run at the tournament Friday. Having received a first-round bye, she is slated to take on the winner of Wednesday’s match between 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu and Moyuka Uchijima.
