Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina, Jessica Pegula & others’ WTA Finals photoshoot outfits came under scrutiny as fans voiced their displeasure. The WTA released its annual player portraits for the 2026 FAGE WTA Finals on Friday, just two days before play starts in Indian Wells, and the clothes have caused more uproar than the draw.
All eight singles qualifiers were styled by Danyul Brown in Fall/Winter 2026 and Resort 2027 pieces, cast as spectators and superfans rather than players in match kit.
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The looks leaned on tailoring, layers and streetwear. Coco Gauff, a Miu Miu ambassador, wore the label in a more everyday register than her on-court collections. World No. 1 Elena Rybakina was in Dior, a black top with jeans, while Jessica Pegula and Mirra Andreeva both wore head-to-toe Chanel, Pegula in a brown jacket, gray blazer and blue shirt.
Aryna Sabalenka paired a Gucci jacket, skirt, shoes and socks with a Nike bandeau. Karolina Muchova wore oversized Balenciaga, Elina Svitolina was in Tom Ford, and Linda Noskova chose The Frankie Shop outerwear with Missoni leather shorts and Miista knee-high boots.
In 2024 and 2025 in Riyadh, the qualifiers posed in full-length gowns from houses including Alberta Ferretti, Brunello Cucinelli, Talbot Runhof and Lela Rose. But this year the shoot swapped gowns for boots, denim and heavy layering, and several fans argued that the doubles players, photographed in pairs, looked more like themselves than the singles field did.
The reaction was not unanimous, but the loudest voices were furious, and they were aimed at the styling rather than the players themselves. Fans called the outfits “horrible” and questioned who was behind the decision.
“Omg this is so incredibly bad. Who dressed them and why do they hate them? Facecards out of this world and they dressed them in this? I’m seriously mad right now,” a user wrote on Reddit.
“The hell is going on here??? I cannot tell who’s the worst dressed, they somehow all are,” a user noted.
“The fit is off on almost all of them. Coco Gauff doesn’t look too happy in her outfit lol,” a user stated.
“Is this a humiliation ritual or what,” a user remarked.
“Jesus these are some horrible outfits,” a user expressed.
“Who chose these outfits? At least they all look awful, no one got preferential treatment,” another user added.
There was no group photograph this year either. The WTA described the individual portraits as a personality-led approach; as several reports suggested a group shot would have been off the table because Elina Svitolina told WTA that she would not pose with Russian and Belarusian players.
A look at Coco Gauff’s record against Jessica Pegula ahead of WTA Finals
Whatever the portraits suggest, the draw is the part that counts, and it puts Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula in the same round-robin group with Rybakina and Noskova. All four play each other, so a Gauff-Pegula meeting is guaranteed before the semifinals. The result that still shapes the matchup came at the 2023 WTA Finals in Cancun, where Pegula won their semifinal 6-2, 6-1 and moved into the final against Iga Swiatek.
Coco Gauff returns as a past champion of the event, and both Americans get a hard-court stage where the forehand and the return decide most of the rallies. The tournament runs from Nov. 8 to 15, with the semifinals on Nov. 14 and the final on Nov. 15.
Edited by Shyam Kamal
