The tennis tours' content conundrum
The tours limited what players and media can capture at events in order to protect their most important asset: access. But they've given us nothing to fill the void in return.
The tennis tours have a content problem—they’re just not aware of it.
Last week, a GQ profile of Taylor Fritz and Morgan Riddle featured an unexpected conversation about the limitations players and their famous partners (who bring many new fans to the sport) face when trying to capture content at tournaments.
While talking about the pressure he feels to build his personal brand on social media, with limited time and less of a natural inclination to do so than Riddle, Fritz also pointed out how current tournament rules about on-site content capture make it difficult. His complaints echo those that I’ve been hearing from people across the sport for the past few months, including those who work with players directly and people running newer tennis media brands.
“A lot of the tournaments are saying, ‘You either have to have won a Slam or have 1 or 2 million followers to even be allowed a videographer on tour,’ which…
