The Rare Chanel Tennis Bag Maura Higgins Wore to the US Open

Maura Higgins brought a little archival fashion to the 2026 US Open, stepping out in vintage Chanel and a rare Chanel Cruise 2023 tennis-inspired bag rented from Into Archive.

If there was ever a moment for a tennis racket-shaped Chanel bag, it was the US Open. On August 31, Maura Higgins arrived at the 2026 tournament in New York wearing a vintage Chanel look that leaned fully into the sport’s fashion language, complete with a tiny Chanel bag featuring a tennis racket-shaped front pocket. The result was less courtside spectator and more fashion girl who happened to have tickets.

The piece in question is the Chanel Cruise 2023 Limited Edition Tennis Racket White Mini Denim Bag, which Maura rented from Into Archive for her US Open appearance. Made in white denim with Chanel’s instantly recognizable quilted construction, the miniature bag takes one of the most familiar symbols of tennis and turns it into a collectible fashion accessory. It is playful, slightly surreal and unmistakably Chanel.

Chanel has always understood the tennis wardrobe

Tennis and fashion have been intertwined for much longer than the current tenniscore moment would suggest. From the crisp whites of early 20th-century tennis to the polished sportswear of the 1960s and 1970s, the court has consistently produced its own visual language. Tennis clothing eventually moved far beyond the sport itself, influencing everything from preppy dressing to luxury ready-to-wear.

Chanel has always been particularly good at blurring that line between sport and luxury. Gabrielle Chanel famously incorporated athletic influences into her designs, bringing jersey, relaxed silhouettes and ideas of movement into a fashion world that had traditionally favored restriction and formality. The house's fascination with leisure, travel and sport continued long after her tenure, eventually becoming part of the broader Chanel vocabulary.

That history makes the Cruise 2023 tennis bag feel less like a novelty and more like a continuation of the house's obsession with turning everyday objects into fashion. The racket becomes a handbag. The tennis court becomes a backdrop. A practical piece of sporting equipment becomes something you would rather photograph than actually play with.

The tennis racket becomes the It bag

The Chanel Cruise 2023 Limited Edition Tennis Racket White Mini Denim Bag takes that idea almost literally. Designed around the shape and visual language of a tennis racket, the miniature accessory combines white denim, Chanel's signature detailing and a tiny tennis-inspired silhouette.

It is also exactly the kind of piece that works particularly well at the US Open. New York has always approached tennis differently from the more traditional atmosphere surrounding Wimbledon. The US Open feels louder, faster and more connected to the city's wider culture, making it a natural meeting point for sport, celebrity and fashion.

Maura's styling plays into that perfectly. She wore a vintage Chanel co-ord consisting of a grey short-sleeve top and matching knee-length skirt, finished with black and white trims. White cat-eye sunglasses, a thick white headband and black peep-toe shoes pushed the look further into retro tennis territory, while the racket-shaped Chanel bag supplied the final detail.

Rather than simply wearing tennis-inspired clothing, the entire look understands the reference. It is part vintage Chanel, part tennis uniform and part New York fashion moment.

From tenniscore to the real thing

The timing is particularly good. Tenniscore has been circulating through fashion for several seasons, fueled by the sport's preppy uniforms, country-club imagery and increasingly visible place in celebrity style. But Maura's look demonstrates a more interesting way to approach the trend: instead of recreating a tennis aesthetic from scratch, she wears an actual piece of fashion history designed around the sport.

There is something more compelling about that distinction. Trends can be copied almost instantly, but archival fashion carries context with it. The Chanel Cruise 2023 tennis bag already had its own point of view before it arrived at the US Open. Maura simply gave it the right setting.

It is also a continuation of her recent relationship with tennis-inspired archival fashion. Earlier this summer, Maura made an appearance at Wimbledon in vintage Chanel, pairing a 2006 Chanel archive dress with tennis-inspired accessories. For the US Open, the reference shifted from Wimbledon tradition to something more playful and distinctly New York.

Why this Chanel bag feels right for 2026

The appeal of archival fashion right now is partly about rediscovering pieces that feel strangely relevant years, or even decades, after they were made. The best archive does not necessarily look old. It looks right.

That is exactly what happens with Maura's Chanel tennis bag. A Cruise 2023 accessory arrives at the 2026 US Open and suddenly feels like the obvious choice. The bag's tennis reference, Chanel provenance and tiny proportions make it instantly recognizable, while its rarity gives the look something beyond the standard celebrity courtside uniform.

For Into Archive, that kind of fashion moment is the point. We are interested in pieces that can move between the archive and the present, whether they are being pulled for an editorial, worn on a red carpet or taken to the stands at the US Open.

Maura Higgins serves archival Chanel

As the 2026 US Open continues in New York, tennis is once again proving that its influence extends far beyond the court. The tournament has become a major destination for celebrity dressing, and this year's courtside looks are giving fashion another reason to pay attention.

Maura Higgins' Chanel moment works because it does not take the tennis reference too seriously. A tiny racket-shaped bag is inherently playful, but paired with vintage Chanel and worn at one of the world's biggest tennis tournaments, it becomes something more: a perfect collision of sport, fashion and archive.

Sometimes the best way to understand a trend is to find the original idea hiding underneath it. In this case, it happens to be a Chanel tennis racket you can carry.

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Into Archive is a New York-based archival fashion showroom specializing in rare and collectible designer pieces, with a curated collection spanning Chanel, Dior, Prada, Jean Paul Gaultier, Vivienne Westwood and more. From editorial pulls and celebrity styling to private clients and collectors, our showroom brings archival fashion into the present.