Zheng Qinwen Embraces Offseason Commercial Success While Prioritizing Tennis

Zheng Qinwen, the Olympic champion, has been making the most of her offseason, despite the WTA Finals concluding just over a week ago. She has already secured a new sponsorship deal with Audi in China, attended the Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition, and appeared at a sponsor event for Gatorade.

Zheng's packed offseason schedule was hinted at after her loss to Coco Gauff in the WTA Finals, where she narrowly missed out on becoming the eighth first-time participant to win the year-end title. Despite her disappointment, Zheng expressed that she had little time to dwell on the defeat or celebrate her historic season due to her upcoming off-court commitments.

"In the off-season, other players go to Maldives or Hawaii," she said, "but I'll have too many commercials to shoot and no vacation."

Zheng's first major appearance was as the new face of Audi in China on November 15th, which was teased a week prior on Weibo. The automaker released a trailer for its newest cars narrated by Zheng, hinting at her appearance at the annual expo. Zheng was photographed at the event with vehicles from Audi's new electric car line, designed exclusively for China.

Two days later, Zheng attended a Shanghai event for Gatorade, where she has been an ambassador since the start of last season. She was featured in new product collateral, photographed in a sleek white pantsuit.

Zheng's sponsorship portfolio also includes on-court apparel deals with Nike and Wilson racquets, a testimonee for Rolex watches, and regional deals with Lancôme cosmetics and McDonald's. Her net worth is growing exponentially, and is expected to continue to rise after a 2024 season in which she became the second Chinese woman to ever reach a Grand Slam singles final and the first Olympic singles tennis champion from her country.

Despite her commercial success, Zheng remains focused on her tennis career. "It you want to balance the time and the team has to work well, especially I think the manager has to communicate good with the head coach, because of course commercial is important, but at the end we are tennis player to perform as well on court," she said at the US Open. "This our priority.

"My priority ... is always performance well [sic] in tennis, but, I mean, if the opportunity come ... I will do it, because it's part of job. But where my passion is and where I want to put all my energy is on the tennis court."

Tags: #ZhengQinwen, #Audi, #Gatorade, #Offseason, #Sponsorship