From credit cards, coffee, burgers, sportswear, cars, chewing gum, housing estates, and chicken…there hasn’t been anything a star of the Tennis court won’t put their name to in a TV commercial.
Be it Liz Smylie chewing on some Extra, Lleyton Hewitt playing against a truck, Sampras and Agassi having a hit on the streets of New York, Pat Rafter in his undies, and Beauty Newk promoting just about everything under the sun, the heroes of the court have proven to be an advertising success and will continue to be.
The game of tennis has provided many a memorable commercial over the years and as the Australian Open gets underway along with the inevitable Dylan Alcott ANZ ads and Uber Eats, we’ve gone down the YouTube rabbit hole to bring you the All-Time Best (and worst) Tennis Ads
Roger Federer
This ad for Nike with Rhys Darby (aka: Murray from Flight of the Conchords) is an all-time classic.
Or when one GOAT swaps with another as Federer and Lionel Messi combined for Gillette attempting other sports
In the spirit of Mr.Snrub (yes, that will do) Federer went incognito for a Wilson Tennis commercial
Novak Djokovic
Novak playing Tennis on the wings of an old plane for HEAD Tennis makes for good viewing.
Rafael Nadal
If there’s one thing Nike can do, it’s flex who they have on the books in their commercial – another collab, this time it’s Raffa and Cristiano Ronaldo, just two of the world’s greatest athletes doing what they do.
You can’t help but watch.
Maria Sharapova
Yet another excellent Nike Commerical from the mid 2000s
John McEnroe
The great man has starred in many commercials, but this one he did for Telstra back in 2007 is excellent
Meanwhile, over the UK, McEnroe starred in an ad for Tesco Supermarkets with his old mate Bjorn Borg
And this one for American Express is the role McEnroe was born to play
Nick Kyrigos & Ash Barty,
The pair have starred in their own respective advertisements, but these ones for Uber Eats with Sacha Baron Cohen remain a highlight.
Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras
Yet again, Nike produced another epic ad involving their athletes and when it comes to some of the best players from the 1990s look no further than Agassi and Sampras
https://youtu.be/MU0X2whJ7oE
Andre Agassi
We’ve included this one for Cannon due to it featuring Agassi’s glorious mullet.
John Newcomb
Newk was not only one of the greatest Australians ever to grace the court but as phrases like “Beauty Newk” entered the national vocabulary, there was nothing that John Newcomb couldn’t promote.
Here are just some of them.
From Custom Credit Loans
Only Newk could make Sanka Decaff instant coffee a tasty prospect
And anyone who grew up in Melbourne circa the late 90s/early 2000s may recall John Newcombe encouraging people to build a house in Caroline Springs.
It remains unknown if Newk purchased an investment property in the outer Western suburb of Melbourne.
Seven’s summer of Tennis
For many years, Channel 7 was the TV home of the Australian Open before a straight swap happened with Nine getting the Tennis and Seven getting the Cricket.
In the 1980’s, Seven Sport cheesed it up with some of these beauties to promote the Australian Open at Kooyong.
Anna Kournikova
The Russian Tennis pinup in her day, Kournikova speaks the language of finance in this US ad for Schwab Investments
Evonne Goolagong
The fact that Evonne gave the impression she was eating Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and winning grand slams at the same time makes her even more of a legend.
Andy Roddick
The good folk at American Express have produced many a fine ad involving Tennis stars over the years, and this ad starring Andy Roddick is no exception.
Andy Murray
This ad for HEAD Tennis features Andy Murray working as a hairdresser in an alternative life. What could possibly go wrong?
Dylan Alcott
The Australian of the Year has done much for the community and is loved by many, but it’s fair to say everyone’s had enough of this ANZ ad which seems to have dominated every single Australian Open broadcasts in recent years
You’d think at least he’d get a free Egg Sandwich with all of his accomplishments these days
Lleyton Hewitt
In the early part of his career, young Lleyton was promoting the gone but not forgotten pizza chain, Pizza Haven at an age where he could have been a delivery boy.
South Australia Tourism
Not one to forget where he comes from, Hewitt gave some love for his home state of South Australia as part of their SA Great campaign.
Yonnex
Pat Rafter
Along with Newk, our Pat isn’t afraid to promote anything.
Be it Bonds undies
Stealing packets of Lays chips
And it doesn’t get any more early-mid 2000s as Rafter promoted a 1800Reverse – where you win a trip to the original Big Brother house at Dreamworld.
And the Reebok ad
Pat Cash
Cash by name, cash by nature be it ads for Lean Beef
Or Pat Cash for Cash for Cans.
And these days, the 1987 Wimbledon Champion has really made it as a product spokesperson joining the likes of Greg Matthews, the late great Shane Warne along with many others to say Advanced Hair – Yeah! Yeah!
Liz Smylie
The first thing that comes to mind when one mentions Liz Smylie is not that she won four grand slam Doubles tournaments, it’s that Liz Smylie chews Extra
Venus and Serena Williams
The Willams sisters have done a fair few ads in their time but this one for McDonalds featuring the Hamburglar is all-time.
Serena also recently starred in a commercial for DIRECTV in the US, transforming into Wonderwoman.
What other ads involving Tennis heroes do you remember?
Let us know in our Facebook comments section.