The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and the International Tennis Federation (ITF) are the governing bodies in professional tennis. They focus on different parts of the tennis market and control their own business and thus their sponsorship deals.

We take a look at the ATP, WTA and ITF sponsors – as listed on the governing bodies’ websites – first by comparing them and then by listing the partners of all three organisations.

ITF has the most partners

The ITF has the most partners with 10. The WTA and the ATP both have eight partners listed on their website.

At the moment the amount of partners does not vary much. In the past the ATP often had the most partners. Given the appeal of the men’s tour with stars like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, the ATP seems to be in the best position to make sponsorship deals.

The women’s game is still slightly lacking when it comes to general appeal. Making it harder to attract sponsors. However, the WTA and women’s tennis is one of the, if not the, biggest women sport around and it keeps developing. This gives the WTA an advantage over other sports.

The ITF has a good position due to ‘owning’ the four Grand Slams, the Davis Cup and Fed Cup and its developmental role in the game. However, the organisation is less visible than the ATP and WTA to fans. This could make it harder to attract sponsors. By implementing several changes, such as the new Davis Cup format, the ITF has chosen a new course, during which it has also attracted new sponsors.

26 different companies

26 different companies have official partnerships with at least one of the three governing bodies in tennis. Since Rolex no longer sponsors the ITF, no brand sponsors multiple tennis organisations.

Sporting goods companies make the best partners

When the brands are categorised based on industry, you can roughly divide them into 15 different industries. Sporting goods companies are by far the most popular partner of the ATP, WTA and ITF with six companies active in that industry.

Information technology and financial services companies also seem to make an interesting partner. Each governing body partners with a provider of information technology, but all with a different one (ATP – Infosys, WTA – SAP and ITF – NEC).

ATP sponsors

The ATP has nine sponsors. Noticeable is the different levels of sponsorship, with Emirates as Premier Partner the highest. The ATP also has three Platinum Partners, one Gold Partner, two Silver Partners and one Official Suppliers. Two partners produce and sell sportswear and equipment.

WTA sponsors

The WTA lists eight partners on its website and like the ATP, uses different sponsorship tiers. It has no ‘title sponsor’, but instead has four Global Premier Partners, one Regional Premier Partner and three Global Official Suppliers.

ITF sponsors

At the moment the ITF has the highest amount of partners with 10. Three companies have their headquarters in Japan.
The ITF has sponsors specifically associated with its various branches. NEC for wheelchair tennis and Sandever for beach tennis.