Nick Kyrgios: Genius Advertiser or Tennis Bad Boy?

Is all publicity good publicity?

This past weekend, Novak Djokovic won his 21st tennis Grand Slam Title.

But it was something else that caught my attention…

Nick Kyrgios.

The so-called “bad boy” of tennis understands the power of attention and publicity.

And what’s interesting, is that about 50% of the tennis community says Kyrgios is bad for the game and the other 50% say he’s good for tennis.

There are some things he does that I feel are downright disrespectful — like spitting at a fan and constant cursing at the umpires.

But overall, he plays the game with swagger and knows how to earn free rent space in many of his opponents heads. I truly enjoy watching him play.

Viewership and attendance definitely increase when he has a match, mostly because he is so unpredictable.

He plays tennis like a basketball player, not a tennis player (some of you will understand what I mean).

Let me take it a layer deeper…

Nick Kyrgios Marketing

After earning runner-up at Wimbledon, Kyrgios immediately put on an Air Jordan hat despite that being a violation of the rules.

Will he get fined for that? Absolutely. Does he care? No.

Kyrgios has accumulated over $550,000 in fines during his tennis career. 

Including most recently spitting toward a fan ($10,000) and for an “audible obscenity” ($4,000).

So-called “bad” behavior has cost him endorsement deals before.

The Australian clothing company, Bonds ended their partnership with him after lots of bad language in 2015.

5 years ago, he was suspended and fined for tanking at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, after this incident, Malaysian Airlines decided to distance itself from Kyrgios.

But all of this has also earned him millions in “free” media attention.

Wimbledon will certainly fine Kyrgios for wearing his hat during the closing ceremony.

But Air Jordan is beyond pleased with the added screen time and will not only pay the fine for him but also probably a bonus on top.

Nick Kyrgios Business Breakdown

Still just 27, Kyrgios has packed a lot into his tennis career so far.

In addition to all the on-court antics and off-court headlines, Kyrgios has managed to squeeze in some pretty good tennis along the way.

His current endorsements include:

• Kia

• Nike

• Yonex

• PlayStation

• Old El Paso

• Beats by Dre

During the covid year with no fans, it was reported that Kyrgios earned more in 1 year from endorsements than his entire playing career.

Kyrgios has won six singles titles on the ATP Tour, as well as two doubles titles.

His combined career earnings are now over $11,000,000 thanks to the $1.2M runner-up prize at Wimbledon.

The Draymond Green of Tennis

I’m more of a basketball fan, so I think it’s fair to compare Nick Kyrgios to Draymond Green.

Both are polarizing but authentic in their ways and know how to earn media attention despite being slightly above-average players.

Instead of being lost in the shuffle, they are some of the most well-known athletes in their respective sports.

For example…

After a game 3 loss in this year’s NBA Finals, Draymond Green hopped on his own podcast to discuss the game.

It was polarizing, as a lot of fans viewed this as an irresponsible action.

However, it resulted in a ton of media coverage, which undoubtedly then turned into new listeners.

Several athletes (and their teams) are crafty at marketing and finding new ways to monetize their name, image, and likeness.

In 2022, attention is the name of the game.

Athletes and brands who know to earn it (especially via social media) will be ahead of their competitors.

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Thanks for reading today.

Go crush it this week!

I included some interesting golf stats for anyone who is interested down below, otherwise we’ll talk on Wednesday.

Peace,

AP

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By The Numbers: LIV vs. PGA Tour

$25 million: That’s the purse for each LIV Golf regular-season event, thanks to financing from the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund, surpassing every tournament on the PGA Tour, including the leading $20 million purse at the Players Championship in March.

About $54 million: That’s how much the PGA Tour pledged to increase its purse across eight tournaments in 2023.

More than $100 million: That’s how much American stars Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, and Phil Mickelson each reportedly received to join LIV Golf.

9: That’s how many golfers in the sport’s top 40 rankings — Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Abraham Ancer, Louis Oosthuizen, Paul Casey, DeChambeau, Kevin Na, Talor Gooch, and Patrick Reed — have joined LIV Golf.

92%: That’s how much the purse for golf’s four majors has increased over the last 10 years – though each major still pays out far less than an ordinary LIV Golf event (the U.S. Open is the most lucrative at $17.5 million).

2.78 million: That’s how many viewers CBS averaged during the final round of the RBC Canadian Open last month that overlapped with LIV Golf’s first event, marking a 22-year high for the tournament.