US Open’s Biggest Stars Sign Baby’s Helmet

When baby Stella and her family traveled from Michigan to the US Open in New York this past weekend, they never expected she would become the tournament’s breakout star.

Wearing her cranial remolding orthosis—a medical helmet used to direct growth and correct flat spots on baby’s head—Stella quickly captured the attention of both fans and tennis greats. With the help of friend and influencer @EleniSabracos, Stella’s mom, Katerina Buck, and her aunt, Bella Buck, launched a plan to get the helmet autographed by tennis stars.

What happened next went beyond their wildest dreams. “We walk in and the first match we go to is Carlos Alcaraz,” Katerina told WOOD TV8 in an interview. “We had these really great people who were helping her [get down to the front of the crowd] and then they’re chanting ‘Sign the baby!’ We get him, and then it was like, you can’t start on that foot and go downhill, so we had to keep going after that.”

Stella’s signature tour quickly grew into quite the souvenir. Players like Coco Gauff, Jannik Sinner, John McEnroe and Taylor Townsend all added their names, and video of the adventure soon went viral—garnering over 1.8 million views.

For Katerina, the outpouring of joy around Stella’s helmet has helped transform what once felt like an isolating experience into a celebration. “I’ll be honest, when Stella first needed the helmet I felt embarrassed and ashamed. This wasn’t how I pictured my child’s life going,” she said of her daughter’s flat spot diagnosis and cranial remolding orthosis. “But we made the best of it. She’ll never forget it. And it normalizes this treatment.”

“There’s a lot of stigma. Some people asked, ‘What’s wrong with her?’ But there’s nothing wrong—it’s just to fix a flat spot. Every single person who actually engaged was joyful though,” added her aunt Bella. “This whole experience shows that if you’re just nice to people, they’ll be nice back. We made a lot of friends with people who worked in the booths and people in the crowd who let us through. All you have to do is be patient.”

The family has even coined it the “Stella Effect.” As Katerina explained, “Really, all we wanted to do was show people being kind and smiling at this really cute baby. That’s what drew people in.”