In September, hours after winning her first U.S. Open tennis championship, Coco Gauff took a night tour around the tournament grounds carrying the Tiffany Trophy.
Dressed in summer’s hot color, pink, she lip-synched to Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice’s No. 1 single.
“I’m bad as Barbie/I’m a doll, but I still wanna party.”
At age 19, Gauff encountered a cultural moment and made it her own.
“That’s what great content creators do. They capture the essence of the moment,” said Kirby Porter, founder of New Game Labs, a marketing firm that helps startups partner with athletes. “First, she embodied it as a victory. Then what about that video? She literally downloaded it and was like, ‘Yes, in the mood!’ “That’s exactly how I feel.”
Born as the creator of a new generation of athletes, Gauff became an MC for Generation Z by showing his unscripted sincerity at this US Open. Not only did she raise her own profile, but she also raised the profile of a world of women’s tennis that needed a new celebrity after Serena Williams’ retirement.
“For me, there was a lull for a few years with no personality,” said Zina Garrison, who became the first black woman to reach a major final since Althea Gibson at Wimbledon in 1990.
“The Women’s Tennis Association didn’t have an identity, and I think she’s reclaiming it,” Garrison said of Gauff.
Gauff, a tenacious defender and confident voice on the court, was unavailable for comment but proved she is ready to make a long-term impact beyond the sport. Inspired by his grandmother Yvonne Lee Odom, who integrated her Florida high school in 1961, Gauff used his platform to promote social justice, including Black Lives Matter, gender equality, and the climate change movement.
Gauff, currently ranked third in the world, faces a more immediate question when she competes in this week’s year-end WTA finals in Cancun, Mexico. Has she recovered from her shoulder injury suffered at a tournament in Beijing this month?
Gauff, who had won 16 games in a row this summer and fall, lost to No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the semifinals of the China Open. Gauff withdrew from another tournament in China.
Her agent, Team8’s Alessandro Barel Di Sant Albano, said in an interview that Gauff suffered a “minor muscle injury” and was ready for Cancun. “I am approaching this competition with the mindset that I will definitely win,” she said.
Team8 was also busy answering calls for her.
“At least 100 brands have reached out,” Barel Di Sant Albano said, adding that Gauff has already signed seven partnerships, including New Balance, which makes his signature shoes.
“We’ve always taken a ‘less, bigger, better’ approach and the idea is that it’s not going to go away overnight,” he said. “If you focus on what happens on the court, what happens off the court is much more important. There will be more.”
Gauff turned professional in 2018 at the age of 14. She made her breakthrough at Wimbledon the following year, knocking out Venus Williams in the first round and making her stunning debut, reaching the fourth round. She also won her first WTA tournament in 2019.
Gauff celebrated the fourth anniversary by posting the following: X’s videoIn a previous tweet, she celebrated the moment by saying, “I want to hug her.”
For Gen Z, receipts are in their social media scrapbooks. See also: Gauff of a cheerful 8-year-old boy dancing in the stands to “Call Me Maybe” at the 2012 U.S. Open. Nearly 750,000 people have followed her Instagram account over the past three months, the highest increase of any female tennis player, according to MVP Index, a ratings and data measurement company that focuses on sports and entertainment sponsorships.
On TikTok, ESPN’s replay of Gauff protesting his opponent’s delaying tactics to the referee in the Open opener went viral, garnering 2.7 million likes.
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Gauff’s three-set win over Aryna Sabalenka was the most-watched women’s tennis final on ESPN, according to ESPN. Viewers peaked at 3.5 million, according to MVP Index.
This figure far exceeds the previous record of 2.7 million viewers for the men’s final, where Novak Djokovic defeated Daniil Medvedev. In a summer when interest in women’s sports such as the Soccer World Cup and the WNBA surged, Gauff’s championship averaged 2.8 million viewers, compared to 2.3 million men’s viewers, the MVP Index calculated.
She tried FaceTime with her brother Codey after winning. At the trophy presentation, Gauff thanked her parents, mocking her father for crying, thanked Venus and Serena Williams for inspiring her, and congratulated the Open for making equal prize money possible for women 50 years ago. He also expressed his gratitude to pioneer Billie Jean King. . Gauff won $3 million.
But when Gauff delivered her most memorable message, Garrison, who was doing radio commentary, said “the tone of her voice completely changed.” In her light-hearted tone, she said, “I have something to say,” Garrison recalled.
At that time, Gauff addressed critics who thought he would never live up to his potential. They thought she was throwing water on her fire, but she was actually throwing gasoline on her fire. “I’m burning really bright right now,” she said.
“We couldn’t have written the script for the 2023 US Open better,” said tournament director Stacey Allaster of Gauff’s understanding of her platform. “Then she leans in and inspires hundreds of thousands of girls to believe in themselves. “Let’s put the mic down.”
Joe Favorito, a sports marketing consultant and former executive of the WTA and the United States Tennis Association, wondered why he had not seen Gauff more in advertisements since the Open.
“You have to take advantage of everything while the spotlight is on you,” he said. “It’s a legacy opportunity.”
But Garrison disagreed. “I don’t think there’s any need to force Coco.” she said “She’s not going anywhere. “Coco is staying here.”
