“The Crazy Flick”, “Best Drip”, “Best Kick”. This is French open coverage – Tiktoc Style. These social media posts produced by Media Group overtime (covering photos, styles and shoes at Grand Slam tennis tournaments) are part of an attempt to chase the Holy Grail of modern sports.
The so-called Tiktok generation has a short span of attention and little money, but it is the future of viewers.
Tennis has faced particularly sudden challenges, traditionally accompanied by the generation of older crowds and icons that include Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams. Find future stars and resonate with a new generation of viewers.
The answer lies in the current harvest of Gen Z players. Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are already famous names based on their burgeoning rivals and Grand Slam titles, and Ben Shelton and Jack Draper are also making waves.
Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz captivated the audience at the French Open Singles Final earlier this month © Ian Macnicol/Getty Imagesalcaraz came from two sets to snatch the title © Ian Macnicol/Getty Imagescoco Gauff won Igaświątek. Semi-final meet ©Julian Finney/Getty Images
On the women’s tour, Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, IgaświąTek and Emma Raducanu are all Grand Slam champions and have a big following on their online followers, but success doesn’t always translate into well-known name status. That’s why sports are looking for social media.
In February, ATP (men’s tour) partnered with overtime. Supporters of the remnants include Alexis Ohanian, founder of Reddit, Serena Williams’ husband. Overtime creates original sports content with 100 MN followers on social media, of which over 80% are under the age of 35.
Details from the tennis business
Formatting is easy. Overtime presenters have access to top players, and “I’m breaking up with my girlfriend, what should I say to her? What’s the best pizza topping? Which one is your favorite?” It’s not too deep or meaningful, but it’s a clip to create engagement with younger audiences.
“The way we all grew up consuming content was in this very linear way. You sit on the couch and turn on the TV. You think young people are consuming sports in very different ways, right?” says overtime president Farzeen Ghorashy. “They use Instagram, YouTube and Tiktok to pick up their iPhones. They’ve taken a lot of weapons to distribute content that lives on all these platforms.”
Overtime started its tennis page in February, gaining 28,000 followers on Instagram, Tiktok and YouTube in the first three months. They are not a huge number, but according to overtime, 42% are under the age of 25.
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Ghorashy hopes that overtime will give similar access to women’s tours. WTA Chief Brand Officer Sarah Swanson says it’s open to such partnerships.
But first, she spent 18 months strengthening WTA’s internal operations, launching a brand and doubled the size of her content team. Recently in March 2024, the WTA Tiktok page was inactive, but has gained over 750,000 followers since starting to actively use it again.
“That’s the future of fandom,” Swanson says. “You can’t sell to existing fans. You need to sell to different fans where you consume with what they care about.” As WTA reported last year that it reached 1.1 billion global audiences across broadcast and streaming, it appears to be working. Two-thirds of its viewers are under the age of 45.
It cannot be sold to existing fans. Must be sold to various fans
Sarah Swanson, WTA Chief Brand Officer
However, there were signs that tennis had not been able to survive. The Netflix Docu-Series Break Point (running in 2023 and 2024) could not have had a Formula 1 and Golf equivalent impact.
Ghorashy says that while the series lacked behind the scenes moments, he calls it Eliza Wastcoat, creator of tennis content. The series says it doesn’t delve deep enough, especially beyond the top 10 players.
Wastcoat’s Instagram page @itselizasworld has built nearly 50,000 followers through tennis fashion reviews and news roundups. She believes tennis is slow to develop organic online content. The WTA and ATP have been improving recently, but they’ve been catching up, with tennis “being at least five or six years behind other sports in terms of organization, sport structure, how easy it is to follow, and invest in social media.”
Tennis organizations also need to address fragmented structures in tournaments broadcast across multiple channels. It can be expensive and confusing for fans. “In fact, it’s not the tennis sport, it’s the length, and I think that’s the problem,” says Wastcoat. “It’s (viewers) can’t know who these people are and connect with them as individuals.”
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Still, there is a cause of optimism. The younger generation is becoming more famous – Alcaraz released his own Netflix series in May, and the brand has come together to work with Swiatek and Gauff and others.
“I think there was a post-Serena and Bevenas transition, but. “Coco is a superstar. Alina is a superstar. They are very social forwards and are really authentic and natural for both.”
Ghorashy says the players are ready to show more who they are.
“I think there may be a new wave of young players who are genuine and show their personality. It’s about what everyone in the ecosystem is doing to promote and make them shine.”
