Is the sports world ready to embrace Serena Williams’ quest for a Grand Slam?
It’s a pursuit that hasn’t been seen since Ronald Reagan occupied the Oval Office. By winning this year’s first three Grand Slam events, Williams has accomplished something not done since 1988, when Steffi Graf won in Australia, France and London. Graf went on to win in New York that year, too. No player has won, or vied for, a Grand Slam since.
Since Williams took Wimbledon earlier this month, fellow athletes have taken note — with Kobe Bryant among them tweeting out congratulations to Williams (Congrats @serenawilliams #differentanimalsamebeast #museon). Others are focusing off the court and predicting that corporate America, with this unique opportunity, is ready to overcome its hesitations with Williams and embrace America’s (and the world’s) top tennis player.
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Wimbledon was Williams’ third major title of the year.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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“For corporate America, this is a wake-up call,” said Arlen Kantarian, the former CEO of pro tennis at the U.S. Tennis Association, who counts himself as a good friend of the superstar. “As much as Serena has accomplished, I don’t think she has the level of recognition nor respect from the corporate world she has deserved.”
Williams is a top earner in female sports, but she is also one of sports’ more controversial figures. She’s not even the top-paid player in women’s tennis, significantly trailing Maria Sharapova in that regard.
Her drive for the Slam in New York would also face the challenge that most sports face in the fall. Should she advance to the Open’s second week, her semifinal match would come on Sept. 10, the same day as the NFL’s Thursday night season kickoff. A final two days later would run up against the second Saturday of college football.
“It will get her a lot of media attention, and more people will probably pay attention, but I don’t think it
will necessarily overwhelm,” said Bob Basche, founding partner of sports consulting firm Connect Sports and Entertainment.
Basche’s point: The Open, while a big, local event in New York, has been a weak one nationally from a TV ratings perspective, and with America’s football passions starting during the Open, gaining eyeballs won’t be easy.
But certainly leading into the Open, which starts Aug. 31, both the event and Williams’ sponsors plan to point out the historic nature of this year’s tournament. The USTA, which owns and operates the Open, confirmed that it plans to use Williams’ Slam pursuit in its advertising. So too does JPMorgan Chase, which sponsors both Williams and the Open.
An ESPN spokesman said the network is still developing its promotional plans for the event but called Williams’ pursuit of the Grand Slam “easily the biggest storyline in the sport of tennis in this generation.”
“We expect to have that reflected in all our promotional support leading into U.S. Open,” he added.
As of last week, the possibility of a Slam had not caused a spike in ticket prices. Tickets for the women’s final on Sept. 12 were selling on StubHub for around the same as face value and less in some cases. Courtside seats in lower-level section 51, for example, were selling on StubHub for much less than the $2,720 price set on Ticketmaster, the Open’s official ticket outlet.
But for Williams, winning a Grand Slam might serve to help her close the endorsement gap that exists between her and Sharapova. The Russian-born Sharapova, who has not beaten Williams on the court since 2004, earns in endorsements and prize money close to $30 million annually, roughly double the amount that Williams earns, market sources said. The explanations for why that gap exists are various, from Williams’ sometimes combustible nature (her explosion at a U.S. Open lineswoman in 2009 a case in point) to a contention from some that the corporate world favors Sharapova for a more traditional, “feminine” look.
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Chase signed Williams to a prime deal in January, and she also is featured by Gatorade.
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Williams’ agent, Jill Smoller, did not respond for comment. Sharapova’s agent, Max Eisenbud, declined to comment. Both agents work for WME-IMG.
There are, however, signs of a possible shift. Among them is JPMorgan Chase signing Williams to a prime deal in January and featuring her in numerous ads.
“Chase was looking to launch a new, national brand campaign in 2015, an extension of our
‘So You Can’ campaign entitled ‘Masters,’” said Erich Timmerman, a company spokesman. “When thinking about the individuals … Serena Williams was identified as the ultimate ‘master,’ having conquered almost every challenge and toppled nearly every record.”
And Williams’ pursuit comes in a year that saw another one of sports’ long-standing chases finally play out with success. Fans watched in droves this spring to see if American Pharoah would become horse-racing’s first Triple Crown winner since 1978. Thirteen horses since then had tried and failed to capture the crown at the Belmont. American Pharoah completed the task.
Ben Sturner, founder of Leverage Agency, which handles marketing for American Pharaoh, noted that there has been distinct acceleration in the use of Williams in corporate spots, citing not just JPMorgan Chase but also Nike and Gatorade. A win at the Open would unleash a torrent of additional endorsement opportunities, Sturner predicted. As an African-American woman with a great life story to tell and being the best player in the world, corporate brands should get on board with Williams, Sturner said.
For the Open itself, the economic benefits of Williams’ Slam pursuit are somewhat more limited. Annual attendance for the event is already well over 700,000, though certainly if Williams is scheduled early in the event for sessions not highly coveted by ticket buyers, that could juice sales for that time.
Regardless, Kantarian, who left the USTA after 2008, expects this year’s Open will be the most hyped event since the one that featured Andre Agassi’s retirement in 2006.
“The year’s Open is all about Serena,” he said. “For the first time in awhile, the women are the storyline going into a Slam and not the men.”
Of course, what comes along with that is a hope that Williams will last longer in the tournament this year than Agassi did nine years ago. He lost that year in the third round.
