Tennis News

ATP Tour delivers record sponsorship revenues & growth in 2024

The ATP Tour has announced record sponsorship revenues for the 2024 season, headlined by the signing of nine new global partners and multiple partnership renewals. The Tour’s unprecedented commercial success reflects its focus on strategic growth under OneVision.

Fast-growing partnerships portfolio
New global partners signed since 2023 include PIF, Lexus, Yokohama, Haier, Waterdrop, LONGi Solar, Sense Arena, OFX and most recently Fitline. During this same period the ATP Tour renewed longtime partnerships with Infosys, Lacoste and Dunlop, along with Asti Docg. These partners join an array of leading global brands including the ATP Tour’s Premier Partner, Emirates, along with Nitto, Rolex, Nilox and Sense Arena. The ATP and WTA also entered a joint licensing partnership with game maker Nacon for the TIEBREAK tennis game. This season’s commercial success has seen the ATP Tour grow its sponsorship revenues by 50% vs. 2023, with an 89% increase projected by 2026.

“We are thrilled that leading brands are increasingly seeking to align with the ATP Tour, our globally recognised athletes and world-class tournaments,” said Massimo Calvelli, ATP CEO. “Our partners are committed to enhancing the promotion of the sport, attracting new fans and supporting our members and communities through ATP Serves. They have also bought into our OneVision strategic plan. This has laid the foundation for growth through more premium events, rights aggregation, and a game-changing profit-sharing agreement creating a true partnership between players and tournaments.”

OneVision: a key growth engine
The ATP’s OneVision strategic plan has been the central driver of commercial success, creating new sponsorship inventory through the expansion of several ATP Masters 1000 tournaments from eight to 12-day events. It has attracted direct support from brands, most notably PIF, which signed a major multi-year partnership in 2024 supporting the ATP in growing the game globally for players and fans. In total, ATP has doubled its annual sponsorship distributions to tournaments since 2021.

OneVision is also unlocking new investment at the tournament level, with multi-million dollar infrastructure upgrades and sell-out partnership portfolios underpinned by long-term category protection. Learn more about OneVision here.

Sustainability focus
ATP Tour partners have made significant investments into supporting the ATP Serves sustainability roadmap. Initiatives co-launched in the past 18 months include the ATP Carbon Tracker developed in collaboration with Infosys, the Nitto ATP Finals Torino Green project, and LONGi PLAN GET. Through their event portfolios, Lexus has driven the electrification of car fleets and Waterdrop has spearheaded the reduction of single-use plastics on Tour. Further collaborations aimed at accelerating progress towards ATP’s climate targets are planned for 2025. Explore our ATP Serves Sustainability Report.

Digital at the forefront
This season has seen record digital and social growth across official ATP Tour social media channels. Followers grew seven per cent to 9.7 million in the 12 months to June 2024, with video views up 159% and reach increasing 48% to 2.9 billion over the same period. Partners have benefitted from comprehensive digital, social and branded content exposure, in addition to on-site activations at tournaments in marquee cities across the globe. Branded content collaborations with players – a vertical introduced by ATP in 2023 – has created significant value for brand partners and new revenue streams for players.

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#NextGenATP Tien continues dream ATP debut, ousts Marozsan in Winston-Salem

#NextGenATP American Learner Tien had never competed in an ATP Tour main draw entering the week. Now the 18-year-old is into the third round of the Winston-Salem Open.

The teen stunned ninth seed Fabian Maroszan 6-2, 6-7(1), 7-6(2) in two hours and nine minutes to advance at the ATP 250 event. The lefty rallied from a break down in the deciding set, took a 5-3 lead and then surged to victory in the tie-break despite failing to serve out the match.

Tien has played the past two main draws of the US Open and will compete in the season’s final major again next week. But for now, he is focused on the task at hand in North Carolina.

This year’s Bloomfield Hills ATP Challenger Tour champion converted six of his 14 break points according to Infosys ATP Stats to earn his fourth win of the tournament including qualifying. He will next play Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild, who ousted eighth seed Nuno Borges 7-6(2), 6-2.

Tien is ninth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah. He could soar as high as fifth if he wins the title this week in Winston-Salem.

The Californian’s friend and fellow #NextGenATP star, Alex Michelsen, also advanced with a 7-6(3), 6-4 triumph against Marton Fucsovics.

Michelsen is pursuing his first ATP Tour title this week. The 19-year-old reached a final last month in Newport and last week pushed World No. 1 Jannik Sinner in a tight two-setter.

The third-placed player in the Live Race To Jeddah, Shang Juncheng, earned a 7-5, 6-3 victory over seventh seed Mariano Navone. The 19-year-old from China then withdrew due to a lower back injury after his triumph, so 10th seed Lorenzo Sonego, who eliminated Dominic Stricker 6-4, 6-1, advanced to the quarter-finals.

American wild card Christopher Eubanks eased into the third round with a 6-1, 6-4 win against 14th seed Hugo Gaston. Last year’s Mallorca champion won 88 per cent of his first-serve points in his first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with the Frenchman.

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Film study pays off, Coric avenges last year's Winston-Salem loss to Baez

One year on from Borna Coric’s marathon semi-final loss to Sebastian Baez at the Winston-Salem Open, the Croatian avenged that defeat Tuesday with a 6-3, 6-4 victory against the top seed and defending champion. 

“I learned from that match, I was watching that match last night,” Coric said of last year’s loss at the ATP 250. “I was prepared for the match and also it was much better for me that we played today while it was sunny. Last year we played in the evening, which was actually much, much slower.”

The 27-year-old dropped just four points behind his first serve and held the advantage in lengthy baseline rallies to improve to 1-2 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Baez. Just days after their three-hour 19-minute Winston-Salem meeting in 2023, Baez again defeated Coric in the US Open first round.  

Into the Round of 16, the three-time tour-level titlist will next face 16th seed Rinky Hijikata.

Earlier, American lucky loser Zachary Svajda earned the highest-ranked win of his career when he upset World No. 29 Francisco Cerundolo 6-4, 6-4. The 21-year-old Svajda is up to No. 101 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings as he aims for his Top 100 debut.

David Goffin defeated fifth-seeded Italian Luciano Darderi 6-2, 6-4 while 10th seed Lorenzo Sonego beat Dominic Stricker 6-4, 6-1.

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GB's Harris and Miyazaki win in US Open qualifiers

Britain’s Billy Harris and Lily Miyazaki win to reach the second round of qualifying at the US Open.

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Reigning #NextGenATP champ Medjedovic advances in US Open qualifying

Hamad Medjedovic moved one step closer to competing in the US Open main draw for the first time on Tuesday. The champion of last year’s Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF kept his hopes alive with a gutsy qualifying performance, rallying past Oriol Roca Batalla 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the opening round.

Each time the 21-year-old has competed in a major, he has advanced through qualifying, a good omen for the Serbian who next faces Duje Ajdukovic. Medjedovic qualified for Roland Garros for the second consecutive year in May and also reached the Wimbledon main draw in 2023.

Abdullah Shelbayh advanced to the second round after his 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory against Brandon Holt. The 20-year-old Jordanian, who last year competed in Jeddah and fell to Medjedovic in round-robin play, converted five of his six break points to defeat the 26-year-old Holt.

Shelbayh is seeking his first major main draw appearance. He reached the third round of qualifying at this year’s Australian Open, where he beat Medjedovic in the penultimate round.

Third seed Aslan Karatsev raced past Enzo Couacaud 6-3, 6-1 after winning nine of 10 net points across his 57-minute victory. Karatsev was clinical from the baseline too, hitting 28 winners compared to his opponent’s six.

Karatsev, who has twice reached the third round at Flushing Meadows (2021, 2023), is hoping to make his fourth consecutive appearance in the main draw.

China’s Buyunchaokete defeated Yasutaka Uchiyama 6-2, 7-6(4) while Pole Maks Kasnikowski overcame home hope Emilio Nava 6-2, 2-6, 6-2. Ajdukovic won the all-Croatian match against Dino Prizmic 6-2, 6-4. 

Nishesh Basavareddy, 19, led the American charge by outlasting Ugo Blanchet 7-5, 6-7(2), 6-4. J.J. Wolf, Mitchell Krueger, Patrick Kypson were among the other home hopes to advance.

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5 Live Tennis: US Open preview

Kelly Cates and guests preview the US Open that begins on Monday.

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Sinner cleared after testing positive twice for banned substance

World number one Jannik Sinner is cleared of any wrongdoing after twice testing positive for a banned substance in March.

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ATP statement on Jannik Sinner

We are encouraged that no fault or negligence has been found on Jannik Sinner’s part. We would also like to acknowledge the robustness of the investigation process and independent evaluation of the facts under the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP), which has allowed him to continue competing. This has been a challenging matter for Jannik and his team, and underscores the need for players and their entourages to take utmost care in the use of products or treatments. Integrity is paramount in our sport.

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Belgrade to host ATP 250 tournament from November 2024

The ATP has announced that an ATP 250 tournament in Belgrade, Serbia, will take place from 3-9 November.

The tournament will be played on indoor hard court at Belgrade Arena, a multi-purpose venue and host of the historic 2010 and 2013 Davis Cup finals.

Djordje Djokovic, Belgrade Open Tournament Director, said: “We are grateful that we got a chance to organise yet another ATP 250 tournament, this time on a hard-court surface. Belgrade has a successful history in hard-court tournaments, as some of the most exciting Davis Cup matches and finals were played here many years ago. We are excited to continue with this tradition and try to make everything even more exciting and better, this time with an ATP tournament.”

The tournament was initially due to be held in Gijon, Spain, but was relocated due to unforeseen operational matters. The relocation will see the event held in Belgrade for an initial two-year period.

All other tournaments on the 2024 ATP Tour calendar remain unchanged at this time and are planned to take place as scheduled.

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All you need to know about the US Open on the BBC

The US Open – the final Grand Slam of the year – begins in New York on Monday – here is all you need to know.

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