NEW YORK (AP) — Over the course of the past week across the U.S. Open’s grounds, eight couples went on their first dates — on camera.
They were all part of the tournament’s newest content creation venture, “Game, Set, Matchmaker,” the most recent play for Gen Z attention from the world of Grand Slam tennis. From Wimbledon to Flushing Meadows, the sport is starting to take risks in pursuit of a new generation of fans.
“We’re always looking for new ways to engage new audiences,” said Jonathan Zipper, the senior director of social media for the U.S. Tennis Association. The USTA governs tennis in the United States and runs the U.S. Open. “In particular, Gen Z and Millennials are a focus for us to bring into the sport of tennis. So we think about the different types of content that those demographics typically engage with and enjoy watching.”
The eight-episode YouTube series that made its debut Sunday comes amidst an explosive moment for dating shows. “Love Island,” “Love is Blind” and “The Bachelor” are just a few shows in the genre that have dominated young American audiences in the past year.
More importantly for the USTA, it believes this type of thing can draw attention.
A year ago, the U.S. Open got 2.3 billion engagements across its official social platforms during the three weeks of action, a record for the event. Thanks to tennis’ rising cultural capital, there are a lot of eyes on official tournament accounts. So the Slams are starting to get creative, and employing outside personalities to ramp up content creation is a clear step.
Back in 2023, Wimbledon brought on Morgan Riddle, a tennis influencer and the longtime girlfriend of fourth-ranked player Taylor Fritz — the runner-up at the U.S. Open 12 months ago — to lead a digital video series. Called “Threads,” the series focuses on tennis fashion and lifestyle through the eyes of Riddle, and has become a recurring series at the tournament.
With titles like “How Wimbledon made tennis chic” and “Being the best means being stylish,” the “Threads” series appeals directly to fans on the fashion side of the sport, a niche that has been the entry point to tennis for many of the young audiences that these tournaments are targeting.
Since the initial announcement of the U.S. Open’s venture with “Game, Set, Matchmaker” — which garnered mixed reactions on social media — the concept of the show has changed from a more individual style, with one woman going on dates with multiple suitors, to the more expanded form it has now.
Ronnie Gunter, one of its participants, had recently moved to New York City when a friend asked if he would want to be involved in a dating show.
“You know what?” he recalled thinking. “Sure. I’m new to the city, why not say yes to something that sounds like fun?”
Even without efforts like these from Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, tennis has a large presence on social media these days — as of Sunday, the #USOpen tag had 1.6 million posts. But while the tournaments do benefit from the visibility that comes from fans posting on social platforms, Zipper says there’s an added value to the Slams getting in on the action themselves and creating what they hope will be viral content in-house.
“(We’re) thinking about how we grow our owned and operated channels,” said Zipper. “We’re always trying to find ways to connect with audiences who have an interest in tennis, have an interest in sport, but can find additional connection to the U.S. Open brand. While there are so many content creators who are out there and creating content … we have been wanting to explore how we can continue to grow the audience on our channels directly.”
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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
