At tennis’s US Open in New York this week, luxury brands and their sponsored athletes take the court: Rolex is the official timekeeper as well as sponsoring a lengthy roster of top players. Players’ benches are branded Polo Ralph Lauren (a sponsor of the tournament since 2005), with logos for Audemars Piguet, Louis Vuitton and Miu Miu and more also visible on the athletes, who sign endorsement deals for everything from tennis shoes and travel bags to perfumes and deodorant.
Long prized by luxury and sports brands for its upscale image and roster of telegenic star players, tennis’s appeal has further increased in recent years. “Tennis is the runway of modern luxury branding,” said Merrick Haydon, an independent sports and luxury analyst, who has worked in sports marketing for more than three decades.
Luxury brands are redoubling their efforts to capitalise. In watches, Rolex works with the men’s world number one and two players, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. Women’s world number one Aryna Sabalenka is with Audemars Piguet. And last year, Hublot collaborated on a watch with Novak Djokovic with a composite casing made from his old racquets and shirts. Rado’s 40-year relationship with tennis continues through its sponsorship of a number of regular tour events and players including Britain’s Cameron Norrie, a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon this year.
In fashion, Alcaraz has a deal with Louis Vuitton, while Coco Gauff, the American women’s world number three and current French Open champion, has been fronting a New Balance x Miu Miu campaign this year, featuring commercially available crossover pieces she wears during matchplay. Gucci, Prada and Tiffany sponsor tennis players, too, while Brunello Cucinelli issued a tennis capsule collection inspired by its eponymous founder’s love of the game.
Haydon said tennis’s profile has changed. “It’s now less about spectacle and more about subtle, lived prestige,” he said. “Brands that understand this shift and the players who embody it are winning not just championships, but cultural currency.”
Tennis’s organisers said it had a number of advantages compared to other sports that made it attractive to luxury brands. “The sport’s clean visual environment, extensive international calendar and high-profile tournaments provide luxury brands with premium visibility and alignments,” said Marina Storti, chief executive of WTA Ventures, the commercial arm of the women’s professional tennis tour. “In addition, tennis events offer unique hospitality and storytelling opportunities that enhance brand image and cultural relevance.”
Earlier this year, the WTA released a limited-edition womenswear collection with the London-based label DUKE+DEXTER fronted by Australian player Priscilla Hon. It also creates custom social media content with Rolex. “This brings tennis fans closer to the sport and its heroes,” Storti said. “It also ensures that the partnership extends beyond event visibility, reaching global luxury consumers where they are most engaged – online.”
Storti said tennis offered luxury brands a particularly effective route to female consumers, as women in tennis enjoy a higher profile than female athletes in most other sports. Forbes’ annual list of the world’s highest paid female athletes includes seven tennis players, including Gauff in the top spot with estimated earnings last year of $34.4 million, of which $25 million came from endorsements. Both Gauff and women’s world number two Iga Świątek, who ranked second on Forbes’ list, are signed to Rolex.
According to Haydon, tennis players are a gift to brands. “They aren’t just athletes, they’re full-blown brand ecosystems,” he said. “When Coco Gauff wears her New Balance x Miu Miu pieces on court and in lifestyle shoots, they generate authenticity and narrative, not just marketing memory. Player-brand partnerships done right are intimate, consistent and values-aligned.”
For watch brands, the challenge is to cut through Rolex’s dominance. “We cannot compete against Rolex,” said Romain Marietta, chief products officer of the LVMH-owned company Zenith. “But tennis is cool and it’s still not too crowded.” Zenith has worked with Serena Williams’ former coach Patrick Mouratoglou and will sponsor his Ultimate Tennis Showdown short-form tennis league when it returns this winter. Marietta admits he has an eye on padel tennis, one of the world’s fastest growing sports, too.
Some watch brands have taken a step back. Longines lost French Open timekeeping duties to Rolex in 2018 and has since exited tennis. Audemars Piguet continues to work with Williams, who retired in 2022, and recently added Sabalenka, but has otherwise reduced its player roster under new chief executive Ilaria Resta.
TAG Heuer’s foray into tennis appears over since it dropped Japanese star Naomi Osaka and the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime to focus on Formula 1. Even Richard Mille, which last year drove revenues of more than $1.6 billion against sales of around 6,000 watches, has reduced its exposure to the sport following the retirement of Rafael Nadal.
“These strategic withdrawals from tennis weren’t arbitrary; they reflect the economic reality of competing against Rolex’s established dominance,” said Benedicte Soteras, a partner at Digital Luxury Group, a Geneva-based digital marketing agency.
Backing the right players is critical, and Rolex employs a tennis sponsorship manager to identify talent — and temperament. Sinner, Alcaraz and Gauff were all added to its roster before they won their first Slams “The cost of securing major players and tournament partnerships has become prohibitive relative to the potential return on investment.”
Costs can spiral quickly. “For a personal sponsorship deal in tennis, you’re looking at anything from $100,000 to $1,000,000,” said Anthony Schaub, founder of The Consultancy Group.
But such is the perceived power of tennis to raise a brand’s profile that a number of younger watch brands are still gambling on it, committing large portions of their marketing spend to the sport. Gerald Charles first stepped on court in 2019, looking for a route to market. “At the time, we didn’t have a retail network, only an online presence, so customers couldn’t try the product physically,” says Federico Ziviani, the brand’s chief executive.
Last week, the US Open’s revamped mixed doubles tournament was won by Andrea Vavassori, who was pictured on-court wearing a blue version of Gerald Charles’s Maestro GC Sport.
“I want people to understand how comfortable, versatile and technically advanced our watches really are,” says Ziviani. “If a player can compete at that level with our watch on their wrist, it speaks volumes about its comfort and resilience.”
Start-up watchmaker Norqain, founded in 2018, brought on Swiss three-time major winner Stanislas Wawrinka as an investor in the business earlier this year. Last week, the company’s chief executive was in New York to introduce the Wild ONE Skeleton Stan the Man Limited Edition, a $6,990 version of a standard collection piece.
“Tennis has over-performed my expectations,” said Norqain’s chief executive Ben Küffer. “It’s seasonal and global and that’s a powerful combination. It’s also one of the only sports where a product can be put to the test — there are no soccer players wearing a watch during a match.“
Wawrinka, who wears a Norqain watch on court, told The Business of Fashion that during more than 20 years as a professional, he had witnessed the sport’s profile change, noting the value brought to the game by the dominance and marketability of Djokovic, Nadal and Roger Federer (another with Rolex). “When I started, it was only sports brands [sponsoring tennis],” he said. “But those guys brought the level of tennis and history of tennis so high that it became attractive for luxury brands.”
When tennis is in the news, it appears to have a direct impact on values of pre-owned watches, too. “The Rolex Wimbledon Datejust jumps to the most in-demand watch during the days leading up to and following the tournament,” said Quaid Walker, founder and chief executive of online pre-owned watch retailer Bezel, referring to the unofficial name of a 41mm Rolex model with a green Roman numeral dial. “Tennis is certainly one of the, if not the most, important sports for luxury watch brands from a marketing perspective.”
As luxury brands increase their involvement in tennis, the sport has become a luxury product in its own right. “Working closely with luxury partners has helped to enhance the overall prestige of tennis events,” said Storti of WTA Ventures. “Collaborations with brands like Rolex have helped tournaments move beyond sport into the realm of luxury lifestyle events.”