ATP, WTA and ITF sponsors

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 13. The ATP follows with 11, while the WTA has 10 partners listed on their website.

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 and younger stars, the ATP is in a great 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, wheelchair tennis 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.

32 different companies

32 different companies have official partnerships with at least one of the three governing bodies in tennis. E-commerce company Tennis-Point has a partnership with both the ATP and ITF. While competitor Tennis Warehouse partners the women’s tour. In addition to Tennis-Point, Topcourt also sponsors two tennis organisations. The online education platform where you can learn tennis skills from professional tennis players and coaches partners with both the ATP and WTA.

E-commerce and financial companies are popular

When the brands are categorised based on industry, you can roughly divide them into 21 different industries. E-commerce companies are a popular partner of the ATP, WTA and ITF with three companies (four partnerships) active in that industry. There are also four financial services companies sponsoring the three governing bodies.

Information technology and health related 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 lists 11 sponsors

The ATP has 11 sponsors. Noticeable is the different levels of sponsorship, with Emirates as Premier Partner the highest. In 2022, the men’s tour added online trading company Pepperstone as Platinum partner and included in the deal were naming rights for the ATP Live Ranking.

The ATP also has two Golden partners, one Silver Partner and four Official Suppliers. In addition, they have an Official Racket Sports Products Retailer and Official Tennis Club.

ATP sponsors

10 WTA sponsors, including a gaming operator

The WTA lists 10 partners on its website and like the ATP, uses different sponsorship tiers. In 2022, it added medical technology company Hologic as title partner. Something the women’s tour did not have since their $14.7 million per year deal with Sony Ericsson ended in 2010. The current deal is said to be the largest in the WTA’s history.

In addition, the WTA has four Global Partners, four Global Suppliers and one Authorised Gaming Operator. It is the only governing body associated with a gaming/betting company.

WTA sponsors

13 ITF sponsors, 2 foundations

At the moment the ITF has the highest amount of partners with 13, of which four companies have their headquarters in the USA and three in Japan. They also partner with two different foundations.

ITF sponsors