US Open: Cash prizes and endorsement deals roll in for Coco Gauff
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 of us will in a lifetime.
With her $3 million payday for beating Belarus's Aryna Sabalenka in Saturday's final, Gauff pushed her season earnings to $5.5 million and her career prize money to $11.1 million.
But even if she didn't have a Grand Slam win and two other recent singles titles to her name, the Florida native would still be a millionaire, thanks to a growing list of endorsement deals.
Barilla, UPS, and Baker Tilly accounting are just some of the brands attached to Gauff, who was seen repping her sponsors' gear throughout the US Open.
Whether it was her maroon New Balance outfit, Bose headphones, or Head racket, Gauff's sponsors all shared the spotlight with the rising superstar over the last few weeks.
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 the
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.
