While MrBeast partners with the NFL and Kai Cenat connects with NBA stars, a different sport is looking to inspire its own wave of creator-powered trends. Welcome to the wild world of tennis content, which is being proliferated across platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram as the annual U.S. Open approaches its climax.
Tennis streams have long been available on platforms like YouTube, but the sport’s digital presence has ramped up considerably during the 2025 calendar year. In January, we got strange, animated streams that offered copyright-proof coverage of the Australian Open. Eight months later, the U.S. Open is the setting for several notable initiatives, including a YouTube-distributed dating show and a partnership between the ATP and TikTok.
Like with many other sports, there’s a simple explanation for this uptick in digital activity: Tennis players are becoming creators. The Netflix show Break Point, for example, profiled top-ranked American man Taylor Fritz and his girlfriend Morgan Riddle (among many other players and partners). With her impeccable sense of courtside fashion and her growing Instagram following, Riddle has become an in-demand creator within the burgeoning creator economy.
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Encouraged by tennis’ growing cultural cachet, influencers from varied walks of life are stepping onto the court to execute brand partnerships. Several names on the Underscore Talent creator roster are part of that push: Ollie Muhl got a Ralph Lauren fit before serving up aces in Queens, celebrity chef Sohla El-Waylly taste-tested the Honey Deuce cocktail in an Emirates-sponsored Reel, and the canine star of Ellie’s Golden Life prompted her human to get up to some courtside mischief.
In a statement, Underscore Co-Founder and Co-CEO Dan Weinstein explained what makes these partnerships so impactful. “Creators are not only making the U.S. Open trend,” Weinstein said, “they’re making the brands that host them synonymous with one of the most relevant sporting events for Gen Z, Millennials, and even Gen Alpha.”
Underscore isn’t the only agency making a play for tennis fan viewership. On YouTube, the USTA teamed up with Fresh Tape Media to release Game, Set, Matchmaker, a dating show set at the U.S. Open. We live in an age when a saucy tennis romance like Challengers can become a cultural touchstone, the USTA is getting in on the trend.
These types of stories won’t fade away once the U.S. Open concludes. Thanks to the ATP’s new TikTok partnership, tennis fans can expect short-form stories to hit their FYPs at the speed of a Ben Shelton serve. And since Netflix is picking up the streaming rights to future tennis tournaments, it’s safe to say that the effort to turn the sport’s stars into social media creators is far from over.
