Coco Gauff attended the Oscars ahead of the WTA 1000 event in Indian Wells (Image: Getty)
enjoyed a glamorous detour during her trip to California for Indian Wells. Ahead of the WTA 1000 event, the world No. 3 attended the Oscars and the Vanity Fair afterparty over the weekend, wearing custom Miu Miu for both appearances.
But not everyone agreed with her decision to step out for the night, as Andy Roddick has now leapt to Gauff’s defence and explained that her Oscars appearance won’t have derailed her Indian Wells preparation.
Tennis fans got a pleasant surprise when they saw Gauff on the Oscars red carpet on Sunday night.
The former US Open champion dazzled in a custom yellow down adorned with gems and appeared in a brief interview with Amelia Dimoldenberg and admitted she wasn’t “used to this glam”.
Gauff also headed to the famous Vanity Fair afterparty, changing into a new dress and bringing her mum as her date. The world 20-year-old wasn’t the only tennis star in attendance – world No. 1 and retired legend were there.
However, retired star Roddick noticed that some questioned Gauff for heading to the Oscars, and he thought the criticism was aimed at the wrong target. “I saw someone say, ‘What’s Coco doing at the Oscars?’” he said on his podcast, Served.
Coco Gauff has still been practising in Indian Wells (Image: Getty)
Just in
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. Read our Privacy Policy
“Coco is rarely going to get a better chance to either knock something out for a sponsor… [and then] being in her hotel room in Indian Wells three hours later without getting on an airplane, right?”
The former world No. 1 explained that Gauff’s glamorous outing didn’t mean she was sacrificing her tournament preparations. Roddick continued: “You’re hitting during that.
“You can very easily practice until three [in the afternoon] and then do everything she did that night and then still be back on the court the next morning at 10 or 11am. It’s not hard.”
The 2003 US Open winner also thought Gauff didn’t deserve the scrutiny compared other players who didn’t have the same level of professionalism.
“They should be doing this to people that actually struggle with being professional and training. I’m not sure Coco is the target for that,” he added.
“But in the world of reality, when you’re a global superstar, stopping in LA to do whatever she has to do promoting a brand, a business, whatever it is, and then going to Indian Wells is about as tight an operation as you’re going to get to knock out some stuff that is on your to-do list.”
Gauff didn’t listen to the naysayers and thoroughly enjoyed her experience at the Oscars. Opening up on the special night during her pre-tournament press conference, she said: “It was cool to just be in a different space and a different world.
“I got lucky that Miu Miu was able to dress me and give me a custom look. That was really sweet of them.
“Yeah, the person I was most surprised about was definitely Samuel L. Jackson. 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.”