Tennis Australia, organizer of the Australian Open grand slam, has announced a new strategic partnership with global sports marketing agency Sportfive, which will work to expand the tournament’s commercial footprint in Europe.
Under the partnership, Sportfive becomes Tennis Australia’s lead agency partner for Italy and Europe, and will focus on securing local brand partners as it looks to strengthen its visibility across that region.
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Sportfive said the European partnerships will be activated through flexible, technology-enabled marketing solutions that span content, broadcast, digital, and virtual advertising, to offer scalable brand exposure.
The new agreement builds on the pair’s previous collaboration, which saw Sportfive broker a new partnership between Tennis Australia and Italian brand De Cecco, which was announced as the official pasta partner of the 2026 Australian Open.
That partnership was activated through virtual signage and content featuring men’s world number one and Italian star, Jannik Sinner, which delivered visibility across Europe and the Americas.
Rosolino Amenta, Sportfive’s managing director, Italy, said: “The De Cecco partnership highlights how a premium global platform like the Australian Open can be leveraged to activate brands in local markets, delivering strong relevance and measurable impact while operating at international scale.”
The Australian Open is the first of four grand slam tournaments staged during the tennis calendar, usually in the latter half of January. It is followed by the French Open, Wimbledon (London), and the US Open.
As well as breaking attendance records, with 1.37 million fans visiting Melbourne Park across the three-week event, the 2026 edition of the Australian Open delivered a cumulative global cross-platform audience reach of 2.2 billion – 29% of which were Europe-based.
TA also organizes Australian Open warm-up events, the United Cup, Adelaide Open, Brisbane Open, and Hobart Open, while the body’s grassroots programming includes Hot Shots Tennis, Cardio Tennis, Padel, Pop Tennis, and Pickleball.
The new partnership adds to Sportfive’s activities in tennis, having secured a long-term media rights distribution tie-up with the International Tennis Federation (ITF) covering rights in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) and former Soviet Union (CIS) countries for the men's Davis Cup and women's and Billie Jean King Cup national team tournaments.
The APAC element of the agreement excludes China and Australia.
The agency also has a partnership in place with the Ultimate Tennis Showdown, the league founded by high-profile tennis coach and entrepreneur Patrick Mouratoglou, to manage its global commercial rights, broadcast distribution, and venue sponsorship.
Under the partnership, Sportfive secured pay-TV giant Sky as the domestic broadcaster for last year’s London UTS Grand Final, which took place from December 5 to 7 at London, UK’s 6,000-capacity Copper Box Arena.
Meanwhile, the new partnership comes two months after Tennis Australia announced Andrew Abdo, the long-standing head of Australian rugby league’s NRL, as its new chief executive to replace outgoing Craig Tiley, who was named chief executive of the US Tennis Federation, organizer of the US Open grand slam.
Abdo will look to continue Tiley’s success, which has seen the Australian Open has become a commercial success.
Among his achievements, Tiley oversaw the multi-billion-dollar redevelopment of the Melbourne Park precinct and the expansion of the Australian Open to a 15-day event, launched the innovative and popular ‘Million Dollar One Point Slam’ event, and significantly expanded the Australian Open’s digital and broadcast footprint globally.
Along with commercial achievements, Tiley drove an 8% increase in national participation last year alone, led by the “Hot Shorts” junior program.
Ahead of his departure, Tiley outlined a five-year strategy for the Tennis Australia board to ensure the tournament remains a premier asset on the global tennis calendar.
