Source: AAP Image/Lukas Coch
Many of the world’s best tennis professional players are descending on the green for this year’s 2024 Australian Open, with many tennis fans turning up to Melbourne Park to lend their support and some watching the action from the comfort of their own home on the big screen.
While fans may know the endeavors and accomplishments of their favourite current and former tennis pros on the court, they may not know that many of these players are also serving up aces in the business world — from sartorial side hustles to exciting sporting ventures.
Naomi Osaka
Founder of suncare brand KINLÒ, co-founder of Hana Kuma and Evolve, and co-owner of North Carolina Courage
Just six months after giving birth to her daughter, the four-time grand slam champion’s return to the Australian Open was cut short after taking on 16th seed and French professional tennis player Caroline Garcia.
However, Osaka remains one of the biggest names in tennis even after being away from the world of tennis for 15 months and is well and truly making a name for herself in the business arena.
In 2021, she developed a new suncare brand called KINLÒ which formulates products specifically for people with melanated skin tones.
The Japanese tennis star revealed in June 2022 that she had teamed up with NBA champion LeBron James to launch a media company called Hana Kuma, which will focus on stores that cross-cultural barriers, as reported by The Guardian.
“We will bring stories to life with this goal in mind: to make unique perspectives feel universal and inspire people along the way,” she said at the time.
Osaka is also the co-founder of a sports agency called Evolve and a co-owner of North Carolina Courage, an American women’s soccer club in the National Women’s Soccer League.
Priscilla Hon
Co-founder of Platform Six sneakers
The pandemic inspired Australian pro Priscilla Hon to start a sneaker brand called Platform Six with her childhood best friend Sarah Butler.
However, Hon announced last year that Platform Six would be rebranded as PS Club.
The Brisbane-established clothing brand sells comfy loungewear and everyday staples for women and men.
On Friday, the world number 206 was defeated by Russian player Maria Timofeeva in their final qualifying match at Melbourne Park.
Jessica Pegula
Founder of Ready 24 skincare
US tennis star Jessica Pegula is shaping up to play against French player Clara Burel in the Women’s Singles on Thursday.
However, what many people may not know is that Pegula is also a budding skincare entrepreneur.
When an injury forced Pegula to take a short break from the tennis circuit in 2016, she set about developing products that would help solve the skincare concerns she’d experienced herself growing up. The result was Ready 24, a range of “on-the-go products, with clean ingredients, that move with you”.
As for inspiration in the business world, Pegula has plenty: her parents Terry and Kim Pegula have a net worth of more than US$6 billion, according to Forbes, having built their fortune in the oil and gas industries.
Since 2014, the Pegulas have owned the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres sports franchises.
Serena Williams
VC investor, fashion founder of Aneres, S by Serena and co-founder of Will Perform
https://www.instagram.com/serena/p/CzWp9LTg4W6/?hl=en&img_index=1
Serena Williams may have hung up her racket in 2022 and retired from professional tennis with 23 Grand Slam singles titles won, but the mum and businesswoman is still serving aces as a startup investor.
In 2019, Williams launched a sustainable clothing line called S by Serena, joining her other two fashion ventures — a designer apparel line called Aneres and a handbag and jewellery line called Signature Statement.
In March 2022, her venture capital firm Serena Ventures raised US$111 million for its inaugural fund, and according to Forbes, holds investments in more than 60 startups, with a clear focus on diversity.
She is also the co-founder of active lifestyle recovery brand Will Perform, which launched in December 2022 and creates recovery products for topical pain relief and muscle care.
In April 2023, Williams also launched the multimedia company Nine Two Six Productions to expand her efforts as a producer.
Roger Federer
Co-founder of TEAM8 and investor in On shoes
One sorely missed face at this year’s Australian Open is sure to be Swiss star Roger Federer who retired from professional tennis in 2022, after becoming the first man to win 20 major singles titles, which included winning six Australia Open Grand Slam titles and eight at Wimbledon.
According to Forbes, Federer has a sponsor profile that is unmatched in the sports world and the biggest deal in his stable is Japanese apparel brand Uniqlo which locked him up in 2018 under a ten-year, $300 million deal.
Roger Federer owns the rights to the well-recognised ‘RF’ logo, which is being used by retailer Uniqlo as part of its long-term partnership with Federer.
But the Uniqlo-made hats are just one slice of the Fed’s lucrative business empire, which spans multiple blue-chip endorsements, his own business ventures, and investments.
However, Federer’s biggest payday may come from his stake in Swiss athletic apparel company On, which went public in September 2021 and was tipped to hit sales of 1.1 billion Swiss francs in 2022. Federer reportedly held a 3% stake in the company, said to be worth US$300 million.
Novak Djokovic
Founder of SILA by Novak Djokovic, owner of Eqvita restaurant and investor in QuantBioRes
World number 1 Novak Djokovic has returned to Melbourne Park this year — just one year after he was granted a visa for the 2023 Australia Open after the previous three-year ban on entering Australia was overturned.
Showing no signs of slowing down, the Serbian tennis pro continues to expand his business interests and welcomed 2024 by launching his new wellness brand ‘SILA by Novak Djokovic’.
Djokovic has long held interests in the hospitality industry, including as owner of the vegan restaurant Eqvita in Monte Carlo.
In 2020, he bought an 80% stake in a Danish biotech firm called QuantBioRes, which is reportedly developing a treatment for COVID-19 that does involve vaccination.
Stefanos Tsitsipas
Vlogger on YouTube
Not to be outdone, Greek professional tennis player Stefanos Tsitsipas, has powered his way into the second round of the Australia Open 2024 and has well and truly made a name for himself in the vlogging world.
Tsitsipas documents his best moments and travels throughout his tennis journey to 187,000 YouTube subscribers – which includes jet skiing in Cyprus to hanging with quokkas in Rottnest Island – and has 1.8 million Instagram followers.
His videos often feature drone footage from cities all over the world, which landed him in some hot water when he arrived at Sydney International Airport a few years back.
“I had to delete [a drone video] for some reasons. I didn’t realise this footage from Sydney is not allowed, it’s not allowed to fly drones in the city,” he told reporters in 2019.
Rafael Nadal
Founder of four sports centres
This year’s 2024 Australia Open will not be featuring Spanish player Rafa, however, we’re sure there will be plenty of fingers crossed for next year.
Currently, Rafa owns four eponymous sports centres — the main one is a sprawling 40,000 square metre complex in his hometown of Manacor, Mallorca (complete with 26 tennis courts, a sports residence, a Rafael Nadal museum, a health clinic, a fitness centre, a spa, and a cafe).
He also opened three more around the time of the pandemic: a facility in Al Zahra, Kuwait which opened in 2020, and facilities in Chalkidiki, Greece; and Cancún, Mexico which both opened in 2019.
The tennis legend is also making waves in the luxury hotel space, teaming up with Meliá Hotels International in late 2022 to launch the lifestyle hotel brand ZEL, which plans to open as many as 20 resorts and hotels in the next five years, starting in Spain.
According to Forbes, Nadal is also an investor in restaurant chains TATEL and TOTÓ with singer Enrique Iglesias and footballer Cristiano Ronaldo.
Danielle Collins
Owner of Danielle Collins Jewellery
US tennis player and world number 62 Danielle Collins is gearing up for her second-round match with Poland’s Iga Swiatek on Wednesday for the ultimate showdown.
Although her business’s Instagram has gone quiet since 2019, the professional tennis career Collins founded the jewellery line to some fanfare and even a luxury collaboration citing that athletes have short-lived careers, “so it is important to have a career backup plan”, she says.
Andrea Petkovic
Writer and photographer
The six-time WTA title-holder’s essay for Racquet Magazine, ‘Tennis vs. Tennis’, was such a hit that it was recognised as one of the Best American Sports Writing of 2019.
Petkovic went on the road for the story, following American indie band Tennis and snapping professional photographs along the way.
Venus Williams
Designer at GhostBed
Williams is a tennis legend who also boasts quite a few careers on the side. She is the CEO of an interior design firm in Florida and released a fashion line called EleVen in 2007. Williams has also co-founded a direct-to-consumer athletic brand wear company called Happy Viking.
She even became a part-owner of the Miami Dolphins with her sister Serena in 2009.
During the pandemic, however, Williams branched out into designing mattresses. She entered into a long-term partnership with GhostBed to design performance mattresses, a venture that is touted to turn into a full home furnishings line.
Maria Sharapova
Founder at Sugarpova
Wanting something to reflect her fun, fashionable, sweet side, Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova created a premium candy business to offer an accessible bit of luxury, interpreting classic candies in her own signature style as a long-time candy lover.
However, the last post on Sugarpova’s Facebook was in October 2021 and its website is down.
Andy Murray
Founder of 77 Sports Management
There are talks that Andy Murray may have played his last Australian Open match, however, the British sportsman has plenty of business interests off the court.
He founded boutique marketing agency 77 Sports Management that offers talent management, marketing and business services, alongside performance analysis for athletes directly through Murray and the team around him.
Murray has also had an interest in numerous companies including the Castore clothing brand and Haylo Hydration brand.
This is an updated version of an article that was published in January 2023.
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