The ATP, the governing body of men’s professional tennis, has announced a strategic collaboration with TikTok. The main objective is to boost content creation and increase engagement on the platform, seeking to connect with current and future audiences. The alliance focuses on two fundamental pillars. The first is the participation of the players, encouraging more ATP tennis players to build an active presence on TikTok. This will allow tennis fans to access exclusive “behind the scenes” content of the sport. The second pillar is the creation of the “Tennis Creators Network”. This initiative will support content creators, not athletes, in the production of content for TikTok during ATP events.
Currently, only 20 of the top 100 ATP players have a presence on TikTok. Some of them have gained a large number of followers. For example, Carlos Alcaraz has 1.1 million followers, Novak Djokovic has 666,000, and Ben Shelton has 448,000. These players share diverse content, from behind-the-scenes moments at tournaments to personal activities. The official ATP account on TikTok has almost 600,000 followers. This collaboration recognizes the growing trend in sports media of authentic, behind-the-scenes content created by athletes. The popularity and virality of this type of content are increasing, manifesting on platforms like TikTok and podcasts. ATP seeks to leverage this boom in “behind-the-scenes” content through this partnership.This strategic association with TikTok is based on current trends among our audience, places the ATP at the forefront of the intersection between culture and sport, and creates content that is easy to discover for both players and tournaments.
Andrew Walker, Senior Vice President of Brand and Marketing at ATP
This encourages more players to share their stories, further igniting the cultural movement of tennis on TikTok.
Rollo Goldstaub, head of global sports partnerships at TikTok
