Before New York Fashion Week takes over Manhattan, the city’s style focus is making an unexpected detour to Queens—onto the blue hard courts of the US Open. As the tournament plays out, it is clear that tennis and fashion now share more than just a passing connection.
Only four days separate these two spectacles, yet the gap between them has never felt smaller. Traditionally dominated by performance-driven labels like Nike and Adidas, the world of tennis fashion has been welcoming a fresh wave of luxury. Now, the logos of Gucci, Miu Miu and Bottega Veneta are joining the mix, turning the courts into a new runway.
Luxury partnerships in the tennis space were once rare, but the past couple of years have changed the game. Bottega Veneta signed Lorenzo Musetti as its first-ever athlete ambassador earlier this year, while Burberry teamed up with Jack Draper. Canali aligned with Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Dior partnered with China’s Zheng Qinwen—all in just a matter of months.
Coco Gauff, one of the sport’s brightest stars, sported tennis dresses partially designed by Miu Miu at three tournaments this summer. “Fashion helps bring casual fans to the sport,” she said recently. Meanwhile, world No. 1 Jannik Sinner has been carrying a Gucci tennis bag since their collaboration began in 2022. These high-profile partnerships have sparked conversations well beyond the sports pages.
When Musetti stepped out at Wimbledon in a white Bottega Veneta jacket earlier this summer, it created a stir across both industries. “It was really cool because every magazine, every fashion magazine was talking about it,” Musetti said ahead of his US Open matches. “I think the tennis courts can also be a stage.”
This perception of tennis as a stage is driving the momentum. Meeta Roy, associate professor of fashion business at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, explains: “Tennis is a marketer’s dream, because it crosses so many demographics and still has prestige. That’s the challenge of the luxury brand business model today: How do you keep your core high-net-worth clients engaged, while appealing to aspirational buyers? Tennis is where it all comes together.”
The sport’s history—rooted in exclusivity and elegance—already aligns with the values of luxury fashion. Add to that a surge in mainstream popularity and a global tournament calendar that runs through major cities, and it’s easy to see why brands are lining up.
Stuart Brumfitt, editor of the tennis lifestyle magazine Bagel and former associate editor at British GQ, says the appeal also lies in personality-driven marketing. “With this younger era of players, they’ve all got huge social media followings. They’ve got reach. And because it’s an individual sport, they don’t get lost in a team dynamic. When a brand backs a player, they get that entire audience.”
The timing also makes sense. The US Open leads straight into New York Fashion Week, and the crossover audience is growing. “Anyone who’s looking at content from a brand’s runway shows is already a fan,” Roy says. “But when Musetti walks onto the court in Bottega, that’s a completely different audience. It’s about reaching the nontraditional fashion consumer.”
In the words of Roy: “Everyone loves a good show.” And right now, tennis seems to be providing just that—one rally, one runway moment at a time.
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