Not yet legally allowed to drink and just barely old enough to vote, US Open champion Coco Gauff has already earned more in her 19 years than most will in a lifetime. With a $3 million payday for defeating Belarus’s Aryna Sabalenka in Saturday’s final, Gauff boosted her season earnings to $5.5 million and her career prize money to $11.1 million.
Even if she hadn’t clinched a Grand Slam title and two other recent singles victories, the Florida native would still be a millionaire, thanks to her expanding list of endorsement deals. Brands such as Barilla, UPS, and Baker Tilly accounting have all partnered with Gauff, who has been seen showcasing her sponsors’ gear throughout the US Open.
From her maroon New Balance outfit to Bose headphones and Head racket, Gauff’s endorsements shared the spotlight with the rising superstar, underscoring her status as one of tennis’s brightest talents.
And although her 2023 endorsement earnings haven’t been revealed publicly, Forbes reported in 2022 that she earned $8 million in sponsorship deals last year.
She is, in many ways, her sport’s first standout who is Gen Z, through and through. On Saturday, she derived motivation from negative comments on social media she read in the locker room before facing Sabalenka, then filmed a TikTok post (soundtrack: DJ Khaled’s ‘All I Do Is Win’) on court with the trophy afterward.
Gauff is willing to speak from the heart, regardless of sponsor ramifications.
After protesters interrupted her semifinal for 50 minutes to bring attention to climate change, Gauff said she agreed with the cause and would never tell someone not to stand up for what they believe in.
After reaching her first major at last year’s French Open, Gauff called out the gun violence in the United States. When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Gauff discussed it at Wimbledon.
When she was handed a $3 million check Saturday, Gauff thanked Billie Jean King for her role in getting equal prize money for the U.S. Open women’s champion 50 years ago.
Gauff often credits her parents, Corey and Candi, with whom she shared tear-filled embraces in the stands after the final, and her grandparents with helping mold the person she is. That is part of why she is the player she is, and why coach Pere Riba talks about what a good listener and learner Gauff is.
As for one day being No. 1 in singles, Gauff said, ‘I know that’s what people want next. But it’s honestly not a huge aspiration of mine. I just want to win as many Slams as I can win.’
So she aims ‘to keep getting better and better,’ because the performance against Sabalenka, Gauff declared, ‘is nowhere near the best that I can play. It was a match that I won just off my athleticism. But I think there’s a lot of improvements with ball-striking and handling the pace and serving.’
Maybe so. There will be time to devote to that.
First, though, Gauff has other things on her to-do list.
‘I’m just looking forward to just going on the beach,’ Gauff said with a chuckle, ‘and sleeping in my own bed and not in a hotel room.’
