World No. 4 Coco Gauff, speaking after her semifinal win over Sorana Cirstea in Rome and ahead of Saturday’s Rome final, said she is open to simplifying tennis scoring. She acknowledged what makes the sport distinctive, noting “literally it’s not over until it’s over” when players must reach and then close out match point.

That said, Gauff singled out the traditional game-score sequence as confusing and in need of change. “The way the games are 15-Love, 30-Love. That doesn’t make any sense to me. It’s so hard to explain that to people,” she told press. “It’s 15, 30, but it goes to 40. Why?

“I don’t know, 1-0, 1-All situation. At least make it incrementally. It should be 45, not 40.”

The suggestion revived a long-standing historical curiosity. Records note that 45 was initially in place during the 1400s, though the shift to 40 lacks a verifiable explanation. The uncertain origins have prompted scholars to offer theories without firm proof.

Elizabeth Wilson, author of Love Game: A History of Tennis, from Victorian Pastime to Global Phenomenon, put the uncertainty plainly: “I don’t think anybody really knows how it started or why it developed how it did. There are various theories, all sorts of romantic theories have been built up about it. That’s partly what makes tennis into a kind of romantic game, because it had all this history that isn’t really history.”

Gauff’s remarks underline a wider conversation about modernizing aspects of the sport while preserving what many consider its unique drama. Her proposal to make scoring strictly incremental is simple in concept and intended to make the games easier to explain to newcomers and casual fans.

Carlos Alcaraz occupies Vanity Fair’s first dedicated global sports issue in a feature that pairs high fashion with the sport’s most discussed rivalry. The profile notes that a wrist injury could keep him out for much of the clay-court season, yet the imagery and story underline how closely the player remains tied to the clay and to tennis culture.

Photographer Ethan James Green shot images of Alcaraz layered in orange clay dust in Miami, styling him in Louis Vuitton, Nike, and Rolex. The feature by José Criales-Unzueta is headlined “King of the Court: Carlos Alcaraz on ‘Living the Dream Life’ and His Rivalry With Jannik Sinner,” and it frames Alcaraz’s commercial presence alongside his on-court achievements.

“What makes Carlos so captivating is the emotion he brings to the game: joy, spontaneity, genuine artistry,” says Pharrell Williams, men’s creative director of Louis Vuitton, in the piece. The story places Alcaraz beside athletes A’ja Wilson and Kylian Mbappé to illustrate sport’s cultural and financial reach.

The profile devotes substantial space to Alcaraz’s dynamic with Jannik Sinner, a pairing already nicknamed “Sincaraz” and presented as the spiritual successor to the Federer, Nadal and Djokovic era. On their relationship, Alcaraz is clear: “We’re showing the world that we can be on court and give our best, and try to do the most possible damage to the other while playing, try to beat each other, and then, off court, just be two guys who get along really well,” he says. “We help each other give our best.”

He adds: “We are fighting for the same goal, but there’s no need to hate each other because we want the same thing,” adding: “When you are competing at this level, having a close friendship is complicated. It can be done. I’m all for it.”

While he accepts flattering comparisons to past greats, Alcaraz concludes that “we’ve reached a point in which comparisons are over.” The Vanity Fair piece captures both the commercial shimmer and the competitive intensity surrounding one of tennis’s leading figures.

Venus Williams brought deliberate symbolism to the 2026 Met Gala, using her couture look to draw attention to a gap in sports research. Co-chairing the event alongside Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, and Anna Wintour, the seven-time Grand Slam champion translated her own portrait, “Venus Williams, Double Portrait” by Robert Pruitt, into wearable art.

The design drew directly from Pruitt’s 2022 portrait, commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery for the Smithsonian Institution’s Portrait of a Nation Gala. In the painting an older Venus faces a younger version of herself; the older figure wears the Wimbledon trophy as a necklace, while the younger stands in a black dress surrounded by strands of her signature white beads. That imagery was echoed in a fully couture black gown featuring a structured corset and sculpted hips and in a sterling silver statement necklace modeled after the Venus Rosewater Dish.

Swarovski Global Creative Director Giovanna Engelbert explained the creative starting point. “For Venus Williams, the starting point was her portrait by Robert Pruitt in which she wears a necklace carrying deep personal meaning a tribute to her family, her roots in Compton, and the people and places that shaped her,” she wrote. “Together, we chose to recreate that necklace as faithfully as possible, translating its symbolism into Swarovski crystal while protecting the spirit and intent of the original piece.”

More than 4,000 Swarovski zirconia and crystals were used in the creation, and the necklace was hand-set with 3,800 stones by two master goldsmiths. Beyond surface glamour, the jewelry contained a specific message: earrings, rings, and other pieces spelled out “6%,” calling attention to the share of global sports science research focused exclusively on women.

The statement coincided with the launch of Gatorade’s Body of Science, a multi-year global research initiative led by the Gatorade Sports Science Institute, with Venus serving as its first ambassador. “This work is so important because it’s not just about me, it’s about the women who come after me,” Venus said. “For decades, we’ve pushed our bodies to the limit based on research designed for men.” The initiative will study women’s needs across life stages and key physiological moments, including the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and perimenopause.