American tennis star and 2023 U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff was sitting with her family at the New Balance headquarters in Boston. While still getting accustomed to having her own signature tennis shoe, it was time to start thinking about a second iteration.

Gauff knew what she wanted.

Gauff’s confidence behind the design has led to the Aug. 21 release of the first colorway—one inspired New York City and dubbed “Power and Grace”—of the New Balance Coco CG2.

“It is exciting to be launching a new shoe inspired by the city where she won her first slam,” Evan Zeder, New Balance head of tennis sports marketing, tells me. “We think [the CG1] was a first of its kind and still feel like we are at the starting point with her. I think she feels the same way. As you see her product, we want that to evolve with her as a person.”

Gauff, now 20, signed with New Balance when she was 14. The brand launched the Coco CG1 in summer 2022, giving the signature model a two-year run that followed basketball culture in pumping out multiple colorways. It is still the only signature tennis shoe for an active player.

Now, though, it’s time for the CG2. “She wanted it to be an evolution, not a revolution,” Josh Wilder, product manager for the New Balance Coco footwear line, tells me about Gauff’s process while sorting through concepts.

That means the Coco CG2 retains much of the same technology from the first iteration and keeps the mid-cut height. “Once you win a slam in one shoe, we wanted to make sure we gave her the same underfoot performance, same underfoot comfort and same underfoot stability that she felt,” Wilder says. “This version is a lot more breathable and more comfortable and allows her to move around the court.”

“I loved the mid-top design of the CG1 not just for the aesthetic, but also for how much support and stability it gives me on the court,” Gauff tells me. “There was no question we would keep the same mid-top for the CG2.”

Zeder says the Coco CG line has stood alone, not just in the style but the technology. “It is a mid,” he says, “when you look at a shelf, it stands out and that means something to her. When we launched the CG1 it was the first of its kind and is still the only one out there with the aesthetic it has and performs the way that it does.”

Wilder says there was no discussion around moving away from a mid-cut. Gauff loves it and enjoys that it offers a distinct style. “She’s one of the best athletes on tour, men and women,” Zeder says, “and the way she moves and the things she does on court to track down balls and cut the way she does, she has to have something that performs at her level. The stability of a mid provides a little more comfort.”

The upper style comes with a new blocking format reminiscent of Gauff’s favorite New Balance lifestyle model, the 550, to bring a fresh perspective to colorways and offers more breathability, all while reworking the collar shape to improve comfort and security. Underfoot the design still features the Energy Arc technology with full-length FuelCell cushioning and a carbon fiber shank. That shank gets prime treatment in the CG2. Instead of being visible just underfoot, the carbon can now be seen on the midsole.

Wilder says there’s plenty of tweaks throughout, learnings from the CG1 and other sports within New Balance, along with the maturing viewpoints of Gauff, who’s now comfortable enough with the New Balance team to speak her mind even more. “She comes to the table with a lot more opinions this time around,” Wilder says. “It was fun.”

Zeder says Gauff was clear about the elements she wanted to retain from the CG1 and the areas she was willing to play with on the CG2. And since building a signature shoe is at least an 18-month process, the young Gauff changed plenty over the course of the project, gaining confidence along the way. “Ultimately, she still wants to make sure it is her own and wants people to know she has been heavily involved,” he says.

Wilder says the CG2 includes more off-court influence in the design, whether the 550 visual design cues, geometric nods to her love of Paris or highlighting performance attributes. That means there’s an opportunity to play with different materials moving forward and really highlight the bold shapes on the upper, especially into 2025.

“My dad played basketball in college,” Gauff says, “and I’ve always taken inspiration from basketball sneakers.”

The CG2 features a handful of new Gauff-inspired design touches. Fans will find “CG” etched in the toe rubber on the front and an abstract “CG” that won’t be readily noticeable on the outsole. And since all five family members have the same “CG” initials, the design is a tie to the entire family, not just Coco. The Coco Gauff signature appears in both a tennis ball on the tongue and on the heel pull on the left shoe (a “two” is on the right heel pull). Being this is the CG2 and Wilder says the number two is considered the most feminine number signifying power and grace, New Balance put the word “power” on the backside of the woven label on the left shoe and “grace” on the right.

The initial launch colorway, named Power and Grace, is a New York-inspired design, with an oxidized blue color meant to represent the Statue of Liberty and a color the brand is calling 30 Watt to embody New York’s city lights.

“New York has always been special to me, but even more now after winning my first major there,” Gauff says. “The New Balance team always lets me be creative when it comes to design, and I really wanted this first CG2 colorway to capture New York’s incredible energy.”

New Balance is also offering a pop-up exclusive colorway available only onsite in New York City on Aug. 23 and 24. Inspired by her dad’s love of city boots, the tan-brown model features steel rivets up the eye row and an embossed “N” logo with a suede upper. New Balance has dubbed it City Suedes and Wilder expects Corey to be wearing the model.

But that’s not all. New Balance already has new colorways planned in September and plenty more moving forward.

“I think it is more refined and mature, just like her,” Zeder says of the CG2. “I think this shoe is the proper evolution from where she is in her game right now. Just like everything with Coco, it is another starting point of the next evolution of where it is, not just on court, but off court.”