- The ATP Tour has entered a global content partnership with TikTok to expand tennis’ reach among Gen Z and Millennials.
- The deal centers on two pillars: boosting player presence on TikTok and launching a Tennis Creator Network with exclusive event access.
- TikTok strengthens its role as a sports engagement platform, aligning with fan demand for behind-the-scenes and personality-driven content.
- For ATP, the partnership is a strategic move to position tennis at the intersection of sport, culture, and digital storytelling.
Partnership launches a Tennis Creator Network and boosts player presence to spark cultural engagement.
The ATP Tour has entered into a global content partnership with TikTok designed to reshape how fans consume and engage with professional tennis. At its core, the collaboration reflects the recognition that sport is no longer just about what happens on the court.
Instead, growth increasingly depends on storytelling, player visibility, and cultural integration on the platforms where younger audiences spend most of their time.
The Structure of the Partnership
The agreement rests on two main pillars: elevating player engagement and building a dedicated Tennis Creator Network.
For athletes, the partnership is about more than creating highlights—it is a push to encourage greater participation from ATP players on TikTok, where candid, personality-driven content has become a catalyst for fandom. Currently, only a fraction of top-ranked players have a presence on the platform, leaving significant growth potential untapped.
@atptour An absolutely fire serve ☄️ Training on Tour #42 – Match Point #TennisTiktok #fyp #janniksinner #TrainingOnTour #tennis
The Creator Network, meanwhile, will give select TikTok creators exclusive access to tournaments, including ATP Masters 1000 events and the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals. By integrating independent creators into the official ecosystem, ATP and TikTok are betting that authentic, behind-the-scenes storytelling can broaden the sport’s reach and deliver more consistent visibility across diverse audience segments.
Why TikTok and Why Now
Tennis has seen a surge of engagement on TikTok, with more than 1.8 million posts under the #tennis hashtag in 2025, a 30% increase year-on-year. Players such as Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic already command strong followings, but the partnership aims to systematize and scale this momentum.
@djokernole
For ATP, the move places tennis in the cultural spaces where Gen Z and Millennials live daily, creating new entry points for casual fans while deepening connections with existing ones.
TikTok, for its part, strengthens its claim as a home for live sports culture. By aligning with the ATP, the platform positions itself not only as an entertainment app but as a gateway for global sports storytelling, capable of shaping how major tournaments and athletes are experienced digitally.
The Broader Sports Media Context
This partnership taps into a broader trend across sports: the rise of candid, off-field content as a primary driver of fan growth. From locker room perspectives to day-in-the-life narratives, audiences increasingly expect proximity to athletes as people, not just competitors.
TikTok’s algorithm rewards this type of authentic, short-form video, making it a natural fit for ATP’s ambitions.
By granting creators and players structured access to premium events, the ATP is effectively building a new distribution layer for the sport—one that runs in parallel to broadcast rights but is designed for virality and shareability. This approach reflects a strategic recognition that sports consumption is fragmenting, and engagement depends on meeting audiences across multiple digital touchpoints.
Strategic Implications for ATP, TikTok, and Marketers
For ATP, the deal is a proactive step to future-proof tennis fandom. By leaning into TikTok-native storytelling, it aims to close the gap with other global sports that have been quicker to embrace platform-based fan engagement. For TikTok, the partnership enhances brand safety and commercial value by anchoring itself to a premium sports property with global credibility.
For marketers, the lesson is clear: partnerships that combine access, authenticity, and platform-native creativity are now central to sports sponsorship strategies. Traditional visibility through broadcasts and arena signage is no longer sufficient to engage younger audiences.
Instead, brand relevance will come from being embedded within the new cultural ecosystems that platforms like TikTok are building around sport.
Redefining Fandom at the Crossroads of Sport and Culture
The TikTok–ATP partnership represents more than a content agreement—it is a recognition of where modern sports fandom resides and how it evolves. By connecting players, creators, and fans through an always-on ecosystem of short-form storytelling, ATP is betting that the future of tennis lies in blending culture with competition.
For marketers and brands, it offers a blueprint for how sports organizations can adapt to changing consumption habits while strengthening their relevance with the next generation of fans.
