Tennis player Coco Gauff has always loved pasta, whether it’s for dinner or a pre-match fuel food. Now, she’s partnering with Barilla to give free meals to people across the U.S., including protein-rich pasta.
The “Serving Love” campaign begins Aug. 23 ahead of the U.S. Open Tennis Championships, where Gauff is competing. People will have the chance to win free meals from the pasta company Barilla, including single ingredient and zero-additive chickpea and red lentil pastas that also come with $100 gift cards.
Additionally, one person will be chosen to receive a year’s worth of groceries. The giveaway will happen during Gauff’s first match when she is serving and the score is 0-0, or love all.
Here’s what you need to know about the giveaway.
New initiative aims to help athletes, general public
Angela Cotter, Barilla’s U.S. pasta marketing director, said the new initiative gives families the option to eat pastas with zero additives, which is where the inspiration for “serving love” came from.
“It’s actually the first time that we’ve been working with Coco on this line of pastas,” Cotter said. “As the world leader in pasta, overall, for us, pasta is really meant to bring joy to these everyday moments.”
Cotter added that the initiative aligns with the company’s morals.
“It really comes down to that everything filters for us in terms of what Barilla stands for, which is this passion for sharing this quality pasta and that being the ultimate sign of love,” she said.
For Gauff, the initiative was easy to get behind. She told USA TODAY she regularly uses pasta as a way to gain protein and is excited to share those nutrients with people across the U.S.
“It’s an important thing for me because personally I feel like the world has the resources to feed everyone, but we don’t really use those resources enough,” Gauff said. “…There’s a lot of people in the world that need food, and I think Barilla stands into my morals of doing that. And I’m glad that Barilla has given me the opportunity to, not necessarily be the face, but be the one pushing this campaign forward.”
People can enter the giveaway between Aug. 23 and 30 by signing up at BarillaServingLove.com.
More:Coco Gauff becomes first player since 2009 to win four WTA tournaments as a teenager
Barilla, Gauff partnership begins early
For Gauff, Barilla’s influence begins long before the 2023 U.S. Open tennis tournament. Gauff originally began her partnership with Barilla when she was 14 years old in 2019, but her family has always been Barilla eaters.
“When that opportunity came to work with them, and especially at that point in my career, I was not really a big name or anything, so it was a very lucky opportunity, the answer was a pretty much immediate yes because those are products that we already use,” Gauff said. “And even to this day, I mean we still buy Barilla even though I am working with them.”
Gauff said when she initially signed with Barilla, the only other tennis player partnering with the company on the professional tour was Roger Federer. As a pasta lover herself, Gauff said the partnership has only helped her tennis rituals.
“I’m a pasta lover, I eat pasta before every match. It’s my favorite meal pre match just because I need a lot of carbs because I burn a lot of calories out there, so it kind of works perfectly,” Gauff said. “Me and my family also are avid users of Barilla … my mom was probably even more excited about it than I was at the time.”
Gauff’s love for pasta is rooted in pre-pro tennis days
Gauff’s pre-match routine has always included pasta, even before she became a professional tennis player.
“It’s always been a thing, even when I was in juniors, I would eat pasta before matches,” Gauff said. “I’ve been eating pasta for way long before but, obviously I hope this partnership with Barilla lasts as long as possible, but I’ll definitely be eating pasta long after it. I just love it and I’ll still be using Barilla regardless of if I’m still partnered with them or not later in the years.”
More:Analysis: Coco Gauff’s Washington title shows she is ready to contend at the US Open
Kate Perez covers trends and breaking news for USA TODAY. You can reach her via email at kperez@gannett.com or on X at @katecperez_
