The tennis stars serving up aces in the business world
From sartorial side hustles to more sporting endeavours, these current and former tennis pros are putting their talents to use beyond centre court.
Tennis fans across the globe are once again tuning in to the action at Melbourne Park as this year’s Australian Open gets underway.
But the tennis stars lighting up the courts, and our big screens, are also no strangers to the world of business.
From sartorial side hustles to more sporting endeavours, these current and former tennis pros are putting their talents to use beyond centre court.
Naomi Osaka — co-founder of Hana Kuma and Evolve, and co-owner of North Carolina Courage
She’s one of the biggest names in tennis, but Naomi Osaka is building her own business empire too.
In June 2022, the Japanese tennis star revealed 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, who won’t compete in this year’s Australian Open as she prepares to welcome her first child, 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
Australian pro Priscilla Hon now ranks 170th on the Women’s Tennis Association leaderboard, but the pandemic brought her game to a screeching halt.
She realised it was the “perfect time” to start a business with her best friend Sarah Butler, and the pair’s sneaker brand Platform Six was born.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CkKdK_hL6mF/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Jessica Pegula – founder of Ready 24 skincare
Among the top seeds in this year’s women’s draw, US star Jessica 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
Serena Williams may have retired from professional tennis, but her career as a startup investor is only getting started.
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.
Serena’s fashion ventures off the court would also be keeping her busy as well, or at least her team busy. She launched a sustainable clothing line called “S by Serena” in 2019, joining her other two fashion ventures — a designer apparel line called Aneres and a handbag and jewellery line called Signature Statement.
Roger Federer – co-founder TEAM8, investor in On shoes
Attendees of this year’s Australian Open will no doubt spot more than a few punters wearing caps emblazoned with the ‘RF’ logo, even though the Swiss maestro won’t be gracing the courts this year.
Roger Federer owns the rights to the well-recognised 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.
One of the savviest of those investments may be his backing of Swiss shoemaker On, which went public last year 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 – owner of Eqvita restaurant and investor in QuantBioRes
As 21-time grand slam winner Novak Djokovic returns to Melbourne Park this year — after a previous three-year ban on entering Australia was overturned — the Serbian tennis pro continues to expand his business interests.
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
Rising star Stefanos Tsitsipas is also making a name for himself in the vlogging world. Tsitsipas documents his travels to 187,000 subscribers — everything from jet skiing in Cyprus to hanging with quokkas in Rottnest Island.
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
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).
But he also opened up 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 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
World number 11 Danielle Collins knows athletes have short-lived careers, “so it is important to have a career backup plan”, she says.
It’s with this in mind that Collins announced her jewellery line to some fanfare and even a luxury collaboration, though her business’s Instagram has gone quiet since 2019.
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 some of the Best American Sports Writing of 2019.
Petkovic actually went on the road for the story, following American indie band Tennis and snapping professional photography along the way.
Venus Williams — designer at GhostBed
Venus Williams has lived quite a few careers on the side: she’s CEO of an interior design firm in Florida, she released a fashion line called EleVen in 2007, and even became a part-owner of the Miami Dolphins with her sister Serena in 2009.
During the pandemic, however, Venus branched out into designing mattresses. She entered into a long-term partnership with GhostBed to design performance mattresses, a venture which is touted to turn into a full home furnishings line.
This is an updated version of an article that was first published in January 2022.
