I’d like to thank Darren Rovell over at CNBC’s SportsBiz for making us aware of the phenomenal 19-year old Serbian tennis player, Ana Ivanovic. She happens to be a pretty decent tennis player, too. Starting with this post, Rovell calls Ivanovic the next Maria Sharapova, and not just because of her looks- Ivanovic dominated Sharapova at the French Open semis earlier this year.
In his next Ivanovic post, Rovell calls Ivanovic the most beautiful female athlete in the world. and gives us a great slide show of Ivanovic images. There is also a poll on SportsBiz asking readers who is the world’s sexiest tennis player – Sharapova or Ivanovic? After almost 1000 votes, the winner is clearly Ivanovic–she got 90% of the votes. In his most recent Ivanovic post, Rovell gives us an interview with the tennis goddess herself.
It’s amazing how much beauty plays a role in female athletes’ marketability. Not that she wouldn’t have sponsors if she wasn’t amazingly good looking, but you can’t say it doesn’t help. People like to see/watch/hear about beautiful people, and the attention she’s getting because of her looks can only help boost her visibility, which will mean she’ll be getting more sponsors, soon. If she can do well during the US Open, business is sure to pick up even more for her and her marketing team.
As listed on her website (which claims to be the #1 visited website of all female sports stars), Ivanovic’s sponsors include adidas, Verano Motors, Wilson and Juice Plus. I’m sure there will be more sponsors, commercials, magazine spreads, and maybe even movie appearances in the future. In case you won’t get to see her playing tennis on TV, check out this YouTube video for a slideshow of Ivanovic pictures.
