Coco Gauff is leaving her longtime agency and launching her own management firm so she can “take greater ownership” of her tennis career as she grows “as an athlete, entrepreneur, and changemaker,” she wrote on social media Wednesday.
The 2023 U.S. Open singles champion and 2024 French Open doubles champion posted that the new venture will be called Coco Gauff Enterprises.
“This is just the beginning of an exciting new era for me, and there is much more to come, which I'll be excited to share in due time,” Gauff wrote. “As always, tennis will continue to be my main priority!”
The 21-year-old American, who was born in Florida and is based there now, is currently at No. 3 in the WTA rankings in singles and No. 25 in doubles. She's been as high as No. 2 in singles and No. 1 in doubles.
Gauff has won about $23 million in prize money and collected millions more from endorsement deals. Her total earnings of $30.4 million in 2024 alone put her at No. 1 among female athletes, according to Sportico.
This business move involves starting a relationship with WME — an agency that has represented plenty of other sports stars, including retired tennis great Serena Williams — and ending Gauff's association with Team8, the management company founded by Roger Federer and his agent, Tony Godsick.
Gauff burst onto the scene at age 15 during Wimbledon in 2019, when she became the youngest qualifier in tournament history, then beat Venus Williams in the first round of the main draw and made it all the way to the fourth round in her Grand Slam debut.
“From the moment I first picked up a tennis racket, I've always believed my purpose extended far beyond the court,” Gauff's post said Wednesday, adding that she wants to make “an impact — not just in tennis, but in business, philanthropy, and beyond.”
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Coco Gauff hits a return to Maria Sakkari, of Greece, during the Miami Open tennis tournament, Saturday, March 22, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Coco Gauff reacts during her match against Maria Sakkari, of Greece, at the Miami Open tennis tournament, Saturday, March 22, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Coco Gauff, right, poses with a fan while signing autographs after her match against Sofia Kenin during the Miami Open tennis tournament, Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
A U.S.-Russian dual national imprisoned in Russia on treason charges was freed Thursday in exchange for a Russian man jailed on smuggling charges in the U.S., a prisoner swap that comes as Moscow and Washington have made efforts to repair ties.
Ksenia Karelina, also identified in the media as Ksenia Khavana, is “on a plane back home to the United States,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a post on social media platform X. She was arrested in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg in February 2024 and convicted of treason on charges stemming from a donation of about $52 to a charity aiding Ukraine. American authorities have called the case “absolutely ludicrous.”
Russia’s Federal Security Service, the country’s main security and counterespionage agency, said that dual Russian-German citizen Arthur Petrov was released as part of a swap. Petrov was arrested in Cyprus in August 2023 at the request of the U.S. on charges of smuggling sensitive microelectronics to Russia and extradited to the U.S. a year later.
Karelina was among a growing number of Americans arrested in Russia in recent years as tensions between Moscow and Washington spiked over the war in Ukraine. Her release is the latest in a series of high-profile prisoner exchanges Russia and the United States carried out in the last three years — and the second since President Donald Trump took office less than three months ago and reversed Washington's policy of isolating Russia in an effort to end the war in Ukraine.
Russian and U.S. diplomats are sitting down Thursday for another round of talks in Istanbul on improving diplomatic ties.
In February, Russia released American teacher Marc Fogel, imprisoned on drug charges, in what the White House described as a diplomatic thaw that could advance peace negotiations. That same month, Russia released another American just days after arresting him on drug smuggling charges.
Karelina, a former ballet dancer, reportedly obtained U.S. citizenship after marrying an American and moving to Los Angeles. She was arrested when she returned to Russia to visit her family last year.
The Federal Security Service, or FSB, accused her of “proactively" collecting money for a Ukrainian organization that was supplying gear to Kyiv's forces. The First Department, a Russian rights group, said the charges stemmed from a $51.80 donation to a U.S. charity aiding Ukraine.
“I am overjoyed to hear that the love of my life, Ksenia Karelina is on her way home from wrongful detention in Russia,” Karelina’s fiancé, Chris van Heerden, said in a statement. “She has endured a nightmare for 15 months and I cannot wait to hold her. Our dog, Boots, is also eagerly awaiting her return.”
He thanked Trump and Trump administration envoys, as well as prominent public figures who had championed her case.
Karelina’s lawyer Mikhail Mushailov said she was flying to the U.S. after a prisoner swap in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
The FSB said in a statement that Russian President Vladimir Putin had pardoned Karelina before the swap. It said that Petrov, who was facing a 20-year prison term in the U.S., was exchanged for Karelina at the Abu Dhabi international airport with the UAE mediation.
The agency released a video that showed Karelina being escorted to a plane somewhere in Russia and featured of what appeared to be the scene of exchange at the Abu Dhabu airport. The same video showed Petrov undergoing medical checkups on a flight to Russia and saying he was feeling normal.
Petrov was accused by the U.S. Justice Department of involvement in a scheme to procure microelectronics subject to U.S. export controls on behalf of a Russia-based supplier of critical electronic components for the country's weapons industries.
The exchange was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, citing a statement from CIA director John Ratcliffe, who it said was on hand for the swap at an airport in Abu Dhabi.
An email seeking comment was sent to the CIA in the early hours of Thursday.
Abu Dhabi was the scene of another high-profile prisoner swap between Russia and the United States. In December 2022, American basketball star Brittney Griner was traded for the notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
The UAE has been a mediator in prisoner swaps between Russia and Ukraine, while the skyscraper-studded city of Dubai has become home to many Russians and Ukrainian who fled there after the start of Moscow’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
FILE - Ksenia Karelina, also known as Khavana sits in a glass cage in a court room in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Thursday, June 20, 2024. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Ksenia Karelina, also known as Khavana sits in a glass cage in a court room in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024.(AP Photo/File)
