Tennis champion Emma Raducanu appeared on court live on the BBC today after her shock US Open victory.
The star champion’s appearance was part of a new marketing campaign launched by the Lawn Tennis Assocation to celebrate British success and diversity in the sport over the next few weeks.
The independent media agency Kite Factory and the WPP-backed The&Partnership have worked with the governing body for tennis in Great Britain to to galvanise more people of all age groups to take up tennis with a campaign comprising TV, digital, OOH and social.
The campaign launched with a livestreamed tennis homecoming event was hosted at 12.30pm on Friday at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton by Clare Balding with Radzi Chinyanganya with four record-breaking British winners of the US open as guests; Raducanu; Joe Salisbury, winner of the men’s and mixed doubles; and Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewett, the wheelchair doubles winners.
The exclusive 30-minute show was broadcast live on BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport online, the Red Button and LTA’s Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok.
For those that missed the live stream, it was shown on BBC2 from 3.15pm or is available on-demand on iPlayer.
The broadcast included a Q&A with LTA youth in attendance and pupils from Raducanu’s old primary school as well as activities like Raducanu returning a replica of her own US-open winning serve.
Within the same campaign, to tie in with Raducanu as a LTA Youth Ambassador, there will be a series of billboards with the slogans “Tennis Came Home”, “Play Your Way” and “Emma RadUCANu” starting in her hometown of Bromley and then expanding nationally and on socials later this week to encourage more kids to take up tennis.
Raducanu, 18, burst on to the tennis scene during this year’s Wimbledon tournament which is broadcast on the BBC. She became the first tennis player in modern Glam Slam history last month to win the US Open as a qualifier and without dropping a single set.
The tournament was streamed by UK rights holder Amazon Prime but the final was simulcast on Channel 4 too.
