Coco Gauff Wins First Grand Slam Title at U.S. Open
The summer of Coco continues.
Coco Gauff defeated Aryna Sabalenka (2-6, 6-3, 6-2) in the U.S. Open final on Saturday in front of a very pro-Coco crowd at Flushing Meadow. Gauff, 19, is the youngest Open champion since 17-year-old Serena Williams won in 1999.
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It marked Gauff’s 18th win in her last 19 matches since a first-round loss at Wimbledon. The victories included what were previously the two biggest titles of her career at Cincinnati and the Citi Open in Washington, D.C.
Gauff lost her only previous Grand Slam final at last year’s French Open, and some doubted whether she would breakthrough on the biggest stage. She acknowledged those doubters in post-match remarks.
“To those who thought they were putting water on my fire, you were really adding gas to it,” Gauff said. “Now I’m really burning so bright right now.”
Sabalenka, who won the Australian Open in January, will move up to the No. 1 ranking in the world on Monday. Gauff will move from sixth to third.
On Thursday night, Gauff defeated Karolina Muchova in straight sets to become the youngest U.S. Open finalist since her idol Williams did it in 2001.
Gauff has been tabbed as the next great American tennis player for several years. At 13, she became the youngest ever to reach the U.S. Open girl’s final. She won her first career junior Slam title at the French Open in 2018. She was the youngest junior world girl’s No. 1 in history.
Marketers flocked to Gauff even though her tournament schedule was limited before she turned 18 due to the WTA Tour’s age-eligibility rules. By her 15th birthday, she already had multiyear agreements with racket maker Head, Italian pasta giant Barilla and New Balance, which won a bidding war with Nike. Those three partners are still in place.
Gauff was an early client of TEAM8, the boutique sports agency founded by Tony Godsick and his longtime client Roger Federer—20-year-old Open semifinalist Ben Shelton is the only other active athlete on the TEAM8 roster.
The Federer connection off the court can be seen with both young American stars. Barilla signed a five-year deal with Federer in 2017 before adding Gauff two years later. Skier Mikaela Shiffrin is the brand’s only other current endorser among athletes. On Holding, the Swiss running brand Federer helped turbocharge when he invested in the company and became a product endorser in 2019, signed Shelton and Iga Swiatek this year as its first two tennis ambassadors.
Gauff added a trio of new sponsors this year in Bose, UPS and accounting firm Baker Tilly. In 2022, New Balance re-did her contract and made it one of the richest in the women’s game with an extension that runs for more than five years. The Boston-based brand launched a signature shoe for Gauff last year; she is the only active player with a signature tennis sneaker across all brands. Gauff also has a deal with Rolex.
Tennis endorsement contracts are layered with bonuses for on-court performance and world rankings. Her win Saturday was worth $3 million in prize money and seven figures in sponsor bonuses. There are also retainer escalators in the case of Grand Slam wins. Gauff will easily clear $10 million from sponsors in 2023. She had won $5.5 million in career prize money entering 2023, but her victory pushed that total to $11.1 million.
Gauff’s ascension presents an incredible opportunity off the court as the top American player. She checks all the marketing boxes with her performance, personality and catchy nickname—her birth name is Cori. Serena Williams has been the sport’s dominant presence on and off the court for the past two decades but hung up her racket for good last year. Serena and her sister Venus combined for 30 Grand Slam singles titles, plus 14 doubles majors together, while every other American—male and female—has won two Slams since Andy Roddick’s 2003 U.S. Open win.
Gauff isn’t satisfied with just reaching the final. As she told fans after beating Muchova, “Job’s not done.”
(This story has updated the headline and several details throughout following Gauff’s win.)
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