Coco Gauff, the highest-paid female athlete, is estimated to earn $31 million, with $23 million of that coming from sponsorship deals. She recently discussed how her parents, Corey and Candi Gauff, helped her navigate brand deals when she was younger.
Gauff is sponsored by several brands, including New Balance, Head, Bose, Rolex, Mercedes-Benz, Baker Tilly, Naked Smoothies, and Chase Bank, among others.
Coco Gauff Reveals How Her Parents Helped Navigate Brand Deals During Formative Years
Recently, Gauff was included in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list in the sports category. In an interview with the American business magazine, the former World No. 2 mentioned that she signed her first professional deal with New Balance at the age of 14. She also revealed that her parents had “refused” to sign any brand deals for her before she reached her teens.
“Pretty young, I would say for sure. First time I signed a pro deal with money and everything was I think New Balance when I was 14. As far as the calls, I would say probably like 8 or 10 years old. My parents refused to sign anything too early. Obviously, I wasn’t aware of it at the time,” Gauff said.
Gauff credited her parents as the “key” to helping her navigate the brand deal process when she entered the professional tennis scene. She said that they guided her in selecting sponsors that respected her commitment to tennis and ensured that her focus on the sport was not compromised by her obligations to those sponsors.
“Oh, parents were 100% key. They made me aware enough, but not too aware, where I felt like I had to do this to meet this criteria or accomplish this. So I never knew anything about that, but it was also them choosing brands that knew that tennis was the main focus, and all of this was after that, so keeping the limitation of the amount of brands that I signed with at a time,” she continued.
The two-time Grand Slam champion mentioned that she has signed more sponsorship deals as she has matured and is now able to manage them more effectively. She also expressed gratitude for her parents’ support in handling brand deals when she was younger, stating that without their guidance, she would have been “lost in the sauce.”
“Obviously, I’ve added more as I’ve gotten older and been able to handle more, but when I was younger, I really didn’t sign as many as I could have. I’m glad that I didn’t, cuz I think I would have been lost in the sauce when it came to that,” Gauff added.
On the tennis side of things, this year, Gauff captured four titles: the 2025 United Cup with the American team, the French Open, the Wuhan Open, and the doubles title at the Canadian Open alongside McCartney Kessler.
Looking ahead, Gauff is set to begin her 2026 season by representing the United States at the United Cup. Team USA has been placed in Group A alongside Team Spain and Team Argentina, with matches scheduled to take place in Perth.
