It’s never easy to create a global initiative in anything for one day, let alone anything to do with sport…on a weekday at a time of year when most of the sporting world is thinking soccer, pitchers and catchers, basketball, ice hockey, lacrosse or any myriad of ideas. Tennis? The hard courts of Melbourne are a memory, the clay of Roland Garros and the grass of Wimbledon is still covered and even in the US the spring outdoor events at places like Key Biscayne and Indian Wells are only starting to come into focus. Then you lop on schedules for indoor events both exhibitions and scheduled tournaments, Davis and Fed Cup, and getting casual fans and the media to focus on tennis on a Monday in march seems like quite a challenge.
However the International Tennis Federation, with a huge lift from two mega-exhibitions in New York and, and the support of over 40 countries have put a stake in the ground, proclaiming Monday March 4 World Tennis Day…a day where lessons indoor and out, events big and small, will serve as a call to action to remind people of the benefits and star power that the sport has, as the weather in many places gets warmer and people start to look for outdoor activity. It will also serve as a good call to action to event promoters around the globe with tickets to sell for upcoming events to give media and fans a chance to engage with them at a time when thoughts may still be elsewhere for tournaments this summer.
World Tennis Day is centered around two high-profile events; BNP Paribas Showdown in New York’s Madison Square Garden that this year will see Rafa Nadal highlight a card that also has World No. 1, Victoria Azarenka, Serena Williams and Juan Martin del Potro, and a new event of the same name to be played at the AsiaWorld-Arena in Hong Kong with Agnieszka Radwanska, Caroline Wozniacki, John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl.
In the US, The United States Tennis Association (USTA) has already established promotion were clubs are asked to open their doors as part of a month-long drive to get children playing the sport. Over 2,200 clubs in the United States took part in this initiative in 2012 and the goal is to eclipse that number this year.
For their part, the ITF has offered up their own simpler grassroots style event to clubs around the world with a similar goal…so the question is, will it work?
An initiative of this size needs two part…star power and commitment to follow through at the grassroots. For the two anchor events, New York and Hong Kong, the stars for the night are in places, and the global television audience should effectively help merchandise the benefits and the fun of the sport at a time when many won’t be thinking tennis top of mind. The mobilization of thousands of club pros around the world not just on the day, but n the weekend prior and the weeks following, is also key to making the promotion effective.
Now is this a global media event with millions watching live? No. Does it need more brand opportunities away from New York and Hong Kong to activate at a consumer level? For sure. Will it suddenly vault tennis back into a higher level of daily awareness? No. What this event does do is give those casual fans a strong reminder to start picking up a racquet, it creates some nice brand awareness in two key markets for the stars of the game (especially Nadal whose injuries have kept him out of the spotlight as one of the game’s most telegenic faces) and it gives the hyper local a great rallying point. Sure it needs lots of follow-up to sustain the bounce the game will get for a night, but as an attempt to create buzz and grow the game, the concept of World Tennis Day is a good one, and one that as it expands can have even more impact on healthy lifestyles than it will on finding the next Grand Slam Champion.
A good promotion, and a nice next step for a game that needs the boost.
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