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- Wimbledon 2025: Coco Gauff is just 21 but already thinking about what to do after tennis</p>
<p>HOWARD FENDRICH June 28, 2025 at 3:56 AM</p>
<p>1 / 3Britain Tennis WimbledonCoco Gauff of United States attends a practice session ahead of the Wimbledon Championships in London, Friday, June 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)</p>
<p>LONDON (AP) — To be clear, Coco Gauff didn't bring up the word "star" during a recent interview with The ; the reporter did. So as Gauff began to answer a question about balancing her life as a professional athlete with her off-court interests, she caught herself repeating that term.</p>
<p>"I definitely didn't know how it would look like," she began with a smile, "before I got to be, I guess, a star — feels weird to call myself that — but I definitely did want to expand outside of tennis. Always. Since I was young."</p>
<p>She still is young, by just about any measure, and she is a really good tennis player — Gauff owns the Grand Slam titles and No. 2 ranking to prove it as she heads into Wimbledon, which begins Monday — but the 21-year-old American is also more than that.</p>
<p>Someone unafraid to express her opinions about societal issues. Someone who connects with fans via social media. Someone who is the highest-paid female athlete in any sport, topping $30 million last year, according to Sportico.com, with less than a third of that from prize money and most via deals with companies such as UPS, New Balance, Rolex and Barilla. Someone who recently launched her own management firm.</p>
<p>And someone who wants to succeed in the business world long after she no longer swings a racket on tour.</p>
<p>"It's definitely something that I want to start to step up for post-career. Kind of start building that process, which is why I wanted to do it early. Because I didn't want to feel like I was playing catch-up at the end of my career," said Gauff, who will face Dayana Yastremska in the first round at the All England Club on Tuesday.</p>
<p>"On the business side of things, it doesn't come as natural as tennis feels. I'm still learning, and I have a lot to learn about," Gauff said. "I've debated different things and what paths I wanted to take when it came to just stimulating my brain outside of the court, because I always knew that once I finished high school that I needed to put my brain into something else."</p>
<p>In a campaign announced this week by UPS, which first partnered with Gauff in 2023 before she won that year's U.S. Open, she connects with business coach Emma Grede — known for working with Kim Kardashian on Skims, and with Khloe Kardashian on Good American — to offer mentoring to three small-business owners.</p>
<p>"Coco plays a key role in helping us connect with those younger Gen-Z business owners — emerging or younger entrepreneurs," Betsy Wilson, VP of digital marketing and brand activation at UPS, said in a phone interview. "Obviously, she's very relevant in social media and in culture, and working with Coco helps us really connect with that younger group."</p>
<p>While Grede helped the entrepreneurs, Gauff also got the opportunity to pick up tips.</p>
<p>"It's really cool to learn from someone like her," Gauff said. "Whenever I feel like I'm ready to make that leap, I can definitely reach out to her for advice and things like that. ... This will help me right now and definitely in the long term."</p>
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<p>Howard Fendrich has been the AP's tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://ift.tt/McvogiC. More AP tennis: https://ift.tt/7tmhdvG>
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