WTA rebrand: New logo and design pale in comparison to tennis in women's sports
The WTA announced a rebrand Thursday, and the initial discussion will likely centre on the merits of the new logo, color scheme and mission statement: to 'rally the world.'
Away from the new design and the soundbites, the governing body of women's tennis is aiming to put itself at the forefront of women's sport and culture.
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'We are at an inflection point, where we have an opportunity to really strengthen and elevate our global identity,' Marina Storti, WTA Ventures chief executive, said in a phone interview Wednesday. 'And for me, it's about being at the forefront of culture.'
As part of the launch, Grand Slam champions like Coco Gauff, Naomi Osaka and Aryna Sabalenka shared advertising spots declaring 'this is not a tennis court,' describing the court instead as a stage and a place to express their identity.
According to Storti, the WTA wants to help its players 'tell stories in a very authentic way so they can build global fandoms and it can help us build global fandom. And really also help us to deepen our commercial partnerships.
'I see this as strategic and commercial. It isn't just about aesthetics. It's a fundamental part of the strategy, and it powers all of our commercial pillars,' she said. Storti cited the Zendaya tennis movie 'Challengers' and Netflix series 'Emily in Paris' using the French Open in its trailer as examples of women's tennis transcending culture, as well as cover shoots for its contemporary stars in Vogue, Time and Forbes.
'I think we saw last year already that we are at the forefront of culture … It isn't just about sport. This is about entertainment as well,' Storti said.
A launch in Los Angeles Friday ahead of the WTA and ATP 1,000 tournament in Indian Wells, Calif., seeks to hammer this home, with world No. 1 Sabalenka and Ava DuVernay, the American filmmaker and screenwriter, hosting the event.
In a statement announcing Thursday's rebrand, the organization referenced the fact that it is 'home to 11 of the world's 20 highest-earning female athletes,' according to Forbes' most recent list. Through the economic and cultural surge in women's sports, tennis' history at its forefront — on court and off — has at times overtaken its contemporary place in the landscape. Billie Jean King, a founding leader of the WTA Tour, also created the Women's Sports Foundation in 1974, two years after Title IX banned sex discrimination in schools in the United States. The WTA has had a longer period of combined professionalism and relevance than any other women's sporting body.
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'The competitive landscape of sports and entertainment coupled with the ever-increasing momentum in women's sport, create the perfect time to stand tall and take our leadership position alongside our incredible athletes and tournaments,' current WTA Tour chief executive Portia Archer said in a statement.
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The WTA has been in discussions with its male counterpart, the ATP Tour, about a commercial merger for some time, of which WTA Ventures would be a part. Established with private equity company CVC Capital Partners, it is designed to triple commercial revenue by 2029; the proposed ATP-WTA merger would not come with a 50-50 revenue split at present. The WTA, like the ATP, which recently announced a partnership with social media sports platform Overtime, is in a near-constant bid to capture younger fans, which requires tapping into people who know the likes of Gauff and Osaka as fashion icons, mental health advocates, TikTok stars before they know them as tennis players.
Tennis dynasties and rivalries are also key to this kind of cut-through. Since the WTA's founding in 1973, the duels between the likes of Chris Evert and Martina Navaratilova and the Williams sisters have been crucial to a tour which can suffer from being cast as inconsistent or unpredictable, rather than its depth and range of winners being acknowledged as a positive. In recent history, world No. 1 and No. 2 Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek have dominated the court most consistently, but without as much cultural clout as Gauff and Osaka. Ultimately, having superstars on the tour is the quickest shortcut to having the kind of cultural relevance that the WTA wants; ensuring that they are discoverable to fans through off-court media and highlights as well as events is the challenge.
In its announcement on Thursday, the WTA said it had sold 15 percent more tickets than in 2023, with social media followers rising by 25 percent, and a cumulative global audience growing by 10 percent to a record 1.1 billion on television and streaming platforms.
It also spoke of the record $4.8 million (£3.8m) prize money awarded to Gauff for winning the WTA Tour Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in a signal of one of its key binds for the future. Human rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have criticized Saudi Arabia's record on freedom of expression, including the criminalization of same-sex relationships and the 'Personal Status Law,' which requires women to obtain a male guardian's permission to marry. The country was ranked 126th out of 146 nations included in the 2024 Global Gender Gap index, and has two events remaining on its deal for the flagship, standalone women's tennis product in the world.
These are the sorts of issues that promise to be defining for the WTA over the next few years, once debates over colors, fonts and logos subside.
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(Top photo of Aryna Sabalenka and Madison Keys: James D. Morgan / Getty Images)
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