The Sport of Tennis is not unknown to anyone.
It is widely followed across the world. The season extends long - starting a few days before the beginning of any new calender year and finishing right at the end of November in that year.
Spiced up with four Grand Slam tournaments - The Australian Open, The French Open, The Wimbledon, and The U.S. Open - the game draws huge eyeballs. And with the sport so popular among the masses, the sponsors also make a beeline to make their presence felt at the tournaments.
Needless to say, the players themselves are considered as models or brand ambassadors for various products.
Top players are signed by multiple brands. The brands get a lot of visibility and the players rake in the money.
You have the sensational and talented men players like Roger Frederer and Rafael Nadal being ambassadors for top brands.
Frederer, after his huge success at Wimbledon, is the representative for watch maker Rolex, among others.
Nadal is the ambassador for various brands like Nike, Quely, Kia etc etc.
The ladies - with their attraction quotient - get a significant number of sponsorship deals.
Maria Sharapova, currently ranked 16th in the world, is the representative for top brands like Tag Heuer, Sony Ericsson, among others. As a goodwill gesture, she is also the ambassador for the UNDP.
Ana Ivanovic, known for both her game and beauty, has a life time contract with Adidas. Plus she is also the National Ambassador for UNICEF in her native country Serbia.
The Williams sisters - Serena and Venus - promote Nike. And then you have Anna Kournikova, who has not won even a single tennis tournament, but yet manages to get millions in sponsorship deals. This is purely driven by her glam quotient - nothing else.
The sponsors get their brand logos embedded on the merchandise which is used by these icons - the caps, the racquet's, the tennis balls, the clothes, the shoes et all.
All of this transform into increasing the level of exposure the brands have in the public domain - finally translating into extensive sales.
And then you have brands bringing in celebrities from other fields to rub shoulders with these sporting icons. Such joint events give a boost to the brand and its products.
Nike recently had super model Bar Rafaeli make a appearance with the almost namesake - Rafael Nadal - at the Nike Tennis Prime-time knockout event ahead of the upcoming U.S. Open 2010.
Needless to say, the event got the required attention. Although both Maria Sharapova and Roger Frederer were participating in the event, Team Rafa - Rafael and Rafaeli - were the winners, both on and off the court.
This made me think about one thing.
I have always wondered whether these lady tennis players were actually sportswomen or super models. With their beauty and grace, they give the fashion models a run for their money.
But if stunner's like Bar Rafaeli join the game of tennis - it won't be long before the people forget about the Sharapova's and the Ivanovic's.
You wouldn't know who would win or who would lose. But one thing is certain - the brands would be definite winners.
