Coco Gauff was heartbroken when she walked away from the 2024 Paris Olympics without a single medal. This was followed by her sad exit from the Cincinnati Open, where she lost to Yulia Putintseva, 6-4 2-6 6-4. While people expect her to get back to her winning ways soon, the 20-year-old is also juggling other endeavors.

Taking to her Instagram, Gauff promoted her latest collaboration with American Eagle. In a world where brands are eager to connect with Gen Z, Gauff is the perfect ambassador. The World No.3 shared a series of pictures where she can be seen modeling for the clothing and accessories brand. Captioning the post, Gauff wrote, “Tomorrow 💜,” signifying the launch of the collection.

“Excited to finally share my part in the @americaneagle 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 campaign. So much heart went into designing this collection with the team. Shop Coco x AE online and in select @americaneagle stores August 19th!”

Gauff’s collaboration with American Eagle came to the limelight in July, when the clothing brand launched the “Live Your Life” campaign and targeted Gen Z, Gen Alpha, and millennial customers through an amalgamation of co-creation and surprise activations. The brand partnered with Gauff and American football player Trevor Lawrence for the campaign.

‘Live Your Life’ — a phrase trademarked by the company for over a decade had appeared in the retailer’s back-to-school marketing in 2012. “Back-to-school really is our Super Bowl and we’re spending a lot of money around talent and surprise activations and content creation to cut through initially,” American Eagle CMO Craig Brommers shared last month. But why was it revived?

This was the result of consumer research by the company across their target audience and how they read American Eagle as a clothing brand. They found that their target customers valued self-expression and a desire for human connection and experiences. The company wants to represent these values with their famous slogan. So having Gauff as an ambassador helps build relatability with the audience and their key interests like social media, sports, fashion, and community impact.

For Gauff’s fans, the collaboration is exhilarating because it has her iconic statement printed over a denim jacket: “Thank you to the people who didn’t believe in me.” Dubbed Coco Gauff x American Eagle, the collab features three tops, a denim skirt, jeans, and a jacket.

While Coco Gauff’s stardom is on the rise, how does she manage to keep her commercial endeavors in place amidst grueling tennis tournaments?

Coco Gauff reveals how she chooses brand deals!

Coco Gauff has partnered with several companies over her journey. Some of them include Ray-Ban and Meta for their new smart glasses, Bose, UPS, Barilla and Baker Tilly, New Balance, and now Naked. Naked Brand is known for fruit juice smoothies.

“For me, the reason I like fruit on court, being a tennis player and playing long matches, I like to have sugar on court … Fruit has always been the fastest way to do that. I constantly try to take a couple of bites of fruit,” she shared. However, it is not an easy task for the player to simultaneously manage commercial projects with her tennis tournaments in place. 

Speaking to Forbes, Gauff revealed the factors that she ensures before making a deal. “I am definitely more involved when it comes to making decisions and working with brands.”

Continuing further, she acknowledged the help she often receives from her father when it comes to the business side of things. From a young age, he started teaching her about businesses, but as a teenager, it wasn’t really something she was interested in. Today, she understands its importance. “My dad loves to teach me about that and how you have to be very literal. Everything has to be in writing. I am just learning about the legal side of it all.”

So what is her goal ahead with partnerships and brand deals? Looking towards long-term gains, the tennis player strives for equity in brands and something that she can invest in and stay involved in. “I am trying to maximize as much as possible when doing partnerships like this,” she said.

But tennis still comes first for her. Hence, she has a fixed schedule for business responsibilities, tennis preparation, and personal time.