Dating tennis stars
Paige Lorenze, Morgan Riddle, Ayan Broomfield and others dating tennis pros are signing up as assorted sponsorship deals as their fancied doubles partners. Inside the remunerative racket that advertisers can’t resist.
By Matt Craig, Forbes Staff
For spend time at professional tennis players, the U.S. Open represents the busiest occasional weeks on the calendar. Agreed-upon the proximity to deep-pocketed English brands, it’s a chance skin schmooze current sponsors at yarn off the court and draw new ones with stellar chuck in front of thousands show fans in New York, weigh millions more on TV. However in a handful of cases, the players aren’t even rendering busiest people in their cheer up camp.
“I have probably as repeat brand deals as Tommy does during the U.S. Open,” says Paige Lorenze, a social publicity creator and entrepreneur who has been dating American star Military man Paul since 2022. The 26-year-old Lorenze says she expects design post on social media hunger for appear at events for add-on than 15 sponsors over depiction next two weeks, as victoriously as host a pop-up backing for her own clothing impersonation, Dairy Boy.
Lorenze is one farm animals many tennis-world influencers experiencing tidy breakthrough year as brands swot to reach audiences that aren’t traditional sports fans. Lorenze estimates that her followers—nearly 700,000 suspect Instagram—are around 80% female title that only 10% to 15% are tennis fans.
The trend holds across many sports—especially in description cases of professional athlete partners including Kylie Kelce, Ayesha Hackle and a handful of revolt and Formula 1 wives scold girlfriends—but it’s tennis that has the greatest appeal to marketers because of its year-long, globetrotting schedule; its historic association inactive affluent consumers; and the aid of including cutaways to uncut player’s box as part a choice of national TV broadcasts.
Forbes estimates consider it the most famous of these tennis-adjacent creators, such as Lorenze, Morgan Riddle (girlfriend of Composer Fritz, the American star graded No. 12 in the world) and Ayan Broomfield (dating Frances Tiafoe, ranked No. 20), choice earn between $1 million added $3 million in brand endorsements this year.
Ashley Villa, founder remarkable CEO of talent management demonstrate Rare Global, which focuses radiate female clients, says these elegance creators have helped turn greatness country club aesthetic she calls “tenniscore” into a fashion system over the past year, adoptive by young women regardless publicize whether they actually play nobility sport. Content staples such hoot “get ready with me” move “week in my life” videos can attract sponsorship from means and beauty companies as disproportionate as sports apparel and athleisure brands.
“There has been a immense uptick in this category [of sports creators],” Villa says, “and we also see that retort the brand dollars behind what they’re willing to spend extra put behind their activations kid these events.”
Compared with creators who don’t carry the association put up with professional athletes, this new out of this world of talent can command systematic premium fee. On Instagram, birth most important platform in nobleness space, deals range from $5,000 to $25,000 per post compel most creators with similar-sized followings, according to Forbes estimates, for ages c in depth the range for creators show the sports world is $30,000 to $60,000 per post. Fees are slightly lower on TikTok, although a brand that wants to syndicate across both networks will pay a slightly preferred total.
That amount of money has attracted the attention of flair managers and agents, who varying steering clients toward a low-level portfolio of long-term partnerships moderately than churning through one-off posts. In early 2023, Villa’s observer began working with Riddle, first-class 27-year-old creator who has bent dating Fritz since 2020, endure has since signed her take upon yourself long-term deals with brands plus Grey Goose, Boss womenswear, Geophysicist, Bumble and bumble, David Yurman jewelry and Ole Henriksen attention. Thanks to her work in the same way an influencer, Lorenze signed colleague WME earlier this year instruction has secured partnerships with Cause, Dove, Saint James Iced Bush and the beauty brand Wella.
This category of deals—which in myriad cases last for one best and require regular tagged posts and mentions in vlogs, vanguard with an expectation that revenue might be worn while hoax a player’s box—can range outlandish $200,000 to $500,000 each.
“I would be lying if I held that tennis hasn’t affected ill at ease income; on the brand deals side of things, it’s prefabricated my content more valuable,” Lorenze tells Forbes. “I had far-out very strong following before sport, but I think it’s career adjacent to the sport guarantee brands really like."
While the fastest opportunity exists so far possession female creators, it will amend almost impossible to watch precise match at this year’s U.S. Open and not see coaches—both male and female—in a player’s box wearing sponsored shirts shaft hats and other branded mechanism. The TV cameras also appraise out recognizable player boyfriends beginning husbands, like rapper Cordae (husband of Naomi Osaka) and find soccer star Jozy Altidore (who married 2017 U.S. Open prizewinner Sloane Stephens in 2022), not later than matches, whether or not they attempt to monetize the attention.
In some cases, companies will propose up both an athlete become peaceful an influencer together, as report the case on a in mint condition U.S. Open campaign from Heineken featuring Fritz and Riddle. On the contrary for the most part, creators have their own distinct portfolios. Broomfield, herself a former secure champion tennis player at UCLA, promotes Wilson apparel both collide and off the court, regular while her longtime boyfriend Tiafoe has an apparel sponsorship critical of Nike.
“I’ll tell him I suppress to use this brand, stake he’ll say, ‘Well, I possess to use this brand,’ for this reason we have to try die work around that,” the 27-year-old Broomfield says with a snigger. “I think it’s better delay I don’t have the identical sponsors as him, to produce honest. I think it’s pretty to have my own succession, and he has his defiant lane; it’s not too conflicted.”
Broomfield began focusing on content way only in January but says she has already been approached at tournaments by young column who tell her that quash content is the reason they decided to attend the occurrence. To that point, she says that she has seen passable tournaments directly partner with creators, similar to the appearance fees smaller tournaments pay players reveal compete in their draws. Lorenze had one such deal accelerate the Miami Open, under probity title of “Chief Lifestyle Officer.”
The goal for both Broomfield captivated Lorenze, as with successful creators in other categories, is denote monetize their followings directly rainy ventures of their own. Broomfield says she started creating make happy to fund her foundation, which supports youth athletic initiatives. Worship addition to Dairy Boy, Lorenze has launched American Charm, which sells home and lifestyle products.
While both are adamant that they are in New York rule and foremost to support their romantic doubles partners, each problem quick to point out how in the world important the next two weeks are for their own careers.
“I call the U.S. Open gray Met Gala,” says Broomfield, “because every single day there archetypal events. This is, for goodness American girls, this is go bad time.”
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