Daria Kasatkina prepares to play Aryna Sabalenka in the fourth round of the US Open. But he didn’t think about facing the no. 2 seeded player—he is fully focused on how to promote his YouTube channel. “Guys, subscribe,” he said in his pre-match interview, looking straight into the camera. “Just search my last name on YouTube and you’ll find it.” The moment immediately went viral, thanks for a clip posted on US Open social media accounts.
Kasatkina, the highest profile gay tennis player, shared on the channel, “Zabiiako & Kasatkina“along with his girlfriend Natalia Zabiiako, a former Olympic figure skater, who accompanied him on the tour. will remain.
Zabiiako is one of a select group of tennis girlfriends, which also includes women who have dated top-ranked American men’s players: Morgan Riddle, the girlfriend of Taylor Fritz who was recently coined “The Most Famous Women in Men’s Tennis” in New York Times; Paige Lorenze, an influencer who dated Tommy Paul; Ayan Broomfield, former collegiate tennis player and also boyfriend of Frances Tiafoe; and Ivana Nedved, girlfriend of Sebastian Korda, who is also known as the son of famous Czech soccer player Pavel NedvÄ›d. These women have made a career out of giving their viewers a behind-the-scenes look at life on the professional tennis tour.
Nowhere was that more evident than at this year’s US Open. Lorenze started his week in New York City by launched a pop-up for his brand, Dairy Boy, where he was with Paul. “It was great that Tommy was able to support me with that because his season was so wild,” he said T&C. “For many wives and girlfriends of tennis players, I can imagine that it is difficult to work on the road. .”
But that’s just it: The business of influence—which often centers on fashion, travel, and other lifestyle content—works with the demands of the tennis tour, with players criss-crossing the globe from January to November every year. While life on the road isn’t always as luxurious as it is in New York City during the Open, the tour takes its players (and their partners, their teams, and their families) around the world.
This content was imported from YouTube. You can find the same content in another format, or you can find more information, on their web site.
Balancing the demands of content creation with being a supportive partner is an ongoing “progress” for most women. As Riddle said City and Country“First and foremost, I’m at the tournament to support him [her boyfriend, Taylor Fritz] and therefore no one is ahead of the games. But he’s also super supportive and super understanding of everything I’ve done too; He wants me to succeed as much as I want him to.” This Open, most tennis boyfriend influencers get brand deals and sponsored content specifically linked to the sport; Broomfield, for example, took over for ESPNW during the first round of the tournament, while Riddle was seen in the Gray Goose box at Arthur Ashe Stadium on a night that Fritz didn’t even play.
“The world of tennis has really taken off and become more mainstream lately—thanks not only to TV shows like Netflix. Break Point but also in fashion. The tennis aesthetic is super trending now, and it always is year after year, maybe for the last one or two years, “commented the culture Alexandra Nikolajev. reflected. Riddle, in particular, “was able to make her own way as an influencer—not only leveraging her visibility as a WAG to a major, wealthy US athlete, but also leaning behind the scenes.” -look at it all. , talk to his audience about how tennis works, [and] doing things like jewelry collaborations.”
In the mid-aughts, the acronym ‘WAGs,’ gained prominence as shorthand for the “wives and girlfriends” of British footballers who were regularly covered in the tabloids. Today it is used more broadly to refer to the partners of professional athletes. While some tennis friends accepted the term—including Riddle, who told the Times he didn’t care about the acronym—it had Denounced because of its sexist and offensive connotations. However, as money and interest continue to pour into global sports, this so-called ‘WAG’ space will become more lucrative.
In professional men’s tennis, however, wives are rarely the influencers; those who have been successful in this content creation space so far have mostly been girlfriends of young stars. For example, Novak Djokovic’s wife Jelena and Daniil Medvedev’s wife Daria have been around for most of their husbands’ professional tennis careers. They are both mothers, and their businesses are closely aligned with their husbands: Jelena runs the Novak Djokovic Foundation, and Daria recently launched a vegan energy bar brand. Neither are traditional influencers, nor do they seem to want to be.
Jelena Djokovic during the men’s finals.
Generally speaking, women dominate the lifestyle influencer industry and the tennis influencer space is clearly no exception. Boyfriends have found success, but so have female players. Australian athlete Daria “Dasha” Saville, for example, posts TikToks with her dog, a daschund named Tofu. One of her videos asked her nearly 1 million followers to help her choose her US Open match outfit:
Or look no further than the most recent US Open champion, 19-year-old Coco Gauff. After winning his first Grand Slam title this weekend, Gauff told reporters that the night before the big match, he called his girlfriend until she fell asleep. It was the first time Gauff had mentioned a boyfriend, and he didn’t talk much about her—the spotlight was on Gauff, and Gauff alone. Although he is a tennis player first and foremost, he naturally understands social media. After his victory, he IMPARTED a TikTok of him lipsyncing to Nicki Minaj with his trophy. Gauff is the star, not any of his girlfriends.
This US Open set a new attendance record this year, welcoming more than 950,000 spectators over a three-week period—including many celebrities, such as Justin Bieber, Nicole Kidman, Shonda Rhimes, and Leonardo DiCaprio. As interest in US tennis grows thanks to a diverse group of rising American stars, there are more eyes on the sport watching the matches and following the players, and a new hunger to fans-especially young people-for more content, like. behind-the-scenes looks, “get ready with me” videos, or shopping guides. And that’s where the tennis buddies won.
Emily Burack (she) is the news writer for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, culture, the royal family, and a variety of other topics. Before joining T&C, he was the deputy managing editor of Hey Alma, a place of Jewish culture. Follow him @emburack on Twitter and Instagram.