Coco Gauff responds to criticism of natural hair in Miu Miu shoot: ‘The girls who get it, get it’

Coco Gauff has responded to online criticism of her natural hair following a shoot for fashion label Miu Miu, which has co-designed some of Gauff’s tennis kits the past couple of years.

“To all the young Black girls out there who have kinky hair like me, do what you want to do with your hair,” the two-time Grand Slam champion said.

Gauff, 22, posted photos from a shoot for Miu Miu’s Vivant bag Apr. 2, which, she said in her video posted Apr. 9, was “literally me and my social person in my parents’ back yard.”

The shoot was coordinated to fit the brand’s version of an everyday or minimal aesthetic, Gauff said, which for her manifested as wearing her 4C hair — as classified on a scale which aims to measure the tightness, curl shape and curl density of hair — naturally.

In response to the shoot, some commenters labeled it “unkempt” and drew comparisons to “civil-rights-era” hairstyles.

Gauff, who wore her hair similarly under a baseball cap during her run to last month’s Miami Open final, said in her video that her hair choices are intertwined with being an athlete. In a report for The Athletic last fall, Black British women’s footballers, including Manchester City’s Khiara Keating and Tottenham’s Jessica Naz, outlined how some more elaborate styles require extensive planning and lengthy appointments, which can be incompatible with their schedules.

“I personally don’t like to slick back my hair super-sleek, because it does damage my hair,” she said.

“I do play tennis, so most of the time when I’m wearing it in a bun, I choose to allow my hair to be and to present in its 4C self, because I do have 4C hair. … I don’t want it to be super-slicked-back, because it’s just not good for my hair.”

She went on to encourage people to express themselves as they see fit, through the full spectrum of Black hair, just as Gauff has done throughout her career on and off the court.

“If you want to straighten your hair, permanently straighten your hair, perm your hair. If you want to wear your hair afro, wear your hair afro. If you want to wear braids, wear braids. If you want to wear cornrows, wear cornrows. If you want to slick back your hair to the Gods, slick it back; if you don’t and you just wanna put it in a bun, put it in the bun.”

And while Gauff said that the criticism did “knock a diva down,” she “got back up” quickly.

“Black women are beautiful. Black hair texture — kinky, Afro hair texture — is beautiful,” she said.

Gauff, the world No. 3, is preparing for a crucial part of her 2026 season. She last year reached the final in all three of the biggest clay-court tournaments — the Madrid Open, the Italian Open in Rome, and the French Open — winning the latter over world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in a memorable final.

The first starts Apr. 20 in the Spanish capital.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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