“Tennis Has Done A Very Bad Job Of Marketing The Players” – Noah Rubin

There’s something inherently flawed in tennis. While you hear a lot about the Big 3 and their tremendous achievements, there’s a lot less that is known about the others.

For a casual fan who doesn’t follow tennis regularly, probably the top 5 might still be recognizable. However, there’s a serious dearth of marketing effort for the players beyond that. Now, turn this up 50 times and think about the kind of marketing that’s lacking for the players outside the top 50.

Many people talk about tennis being a big-money sport that can bring you instant fame. However, not many understand the struggle faced by lower-ranked players to stay relevant. Of course, there’s someone like a Jannik Dinner who’s already gained quite a lot of popularity despite his ranking being outside the top fifty. However, his low age is his unique selling point. According to American tennis star Noah Rubin, all the tennis players who aren’t the Big 3, need to develop their own selling point. Rubin revealed this in an exclusive interview with Essentially Sports.

Know More – Noah Rubin Reveals His Perfect Tennis Player

What did Noah Rubin say about marketing in tennis? 

Noah Rubin believes that if tennis isn’t marketing you, then there is a need to build your own brand. He believes it’s increasingly possible in a digitalized world. Even a daily blog can help you gain recognition among the supporters.

“Yea I think they can be doing a lot more. Even the guys who say I only play video games I do this. So I’m okay, live stream it, twitch do something. I think as tennis players it gets very difficult as a lot of them are taught from an early age that even if you have a different passion put it to the side, only focus on tennis and I think that becomes a very difficult thing so that becomes one dimensional.”

There’s certainly an element of hard work which is required in tennis. Most of the times, you need to put in singular effort towards the sport. This means that if you have different passions, forget about them. Noah Rubin rejects this mentality as he believes that the modern world requires different things from you. Even the best of players can face the dark clouds of ignorance from tennis supporters.

What is the solution as per Rubin? 

This is what he proposes –

“And for guys like even Kyrgios and Medvedev and they love video games. Like, twitch it more, and even for some of the other guys who don’t need to market themselves further are the guys who are 75 in the world. Use what you have whether its playing music and I think this pandemic has allowed players to look at their other passions and allowed them to market and hopefully once tennis comes back it doesn’t change their perspective and allows them to keep going.”

Noah Rubin believes that it will be foolish to solely blame the players. The governing bodies of tennis need to share an equal burden of responsibility. The culture around training also needs to change.

“But you never know, I think a lot of people around them are saying make sure you focus on tennis. You can do this for now, but when you come back, focus on tennis. So I think it’s not only the players’ fault by any means. Tennis has done a very bad job of marketing the players, but I think the players too have a little bit to do with it.”

Noah Rubin certainly has a fair point. He raises some key questions with a very unique perspective. What are your thoughts on it?