The global sports marketing agency, SPORTFIVE, has strengthened its relationship with Tennis Australia by formalising a strategic partnership designed to accelerate the Australian Open‘s commercial growth across Europe through targeted sponsorship sales and market-specific brand activations.
The agreement expands a collaboration that began in 2025, with SPORTFIVE continuing as Tennis Australia’s exclusive commercial agency partner for Italy and Europe. In the role, the agency will focus on securing new regional partners while delivering integrated commercial programmes spanning sponsorship, digital content, broadcast, virtual advertising and fan engagement initiatives tailored to individual European markets.
The partnership comes as the Australian Open continues to strengthen its position as one of the world’s most commercially valuable sporting events. The 2026 edition welcomed a record 1.37 million spectators to Melbourne Park across its three-week schedule, while generating a cumulative global cross-platform audience of 2.2 billion. Europe represented nearly one-third of the tournament’s annual viewership, reinforcing the region as a key market in Tennis Australia’s long-term international commercial strategy.
An early success of the collaboration was SPORTFIVE brokering Italian pasta manufacturer De Cecco‘s appointment as the Australian Open’s official pasta partner for AO26. The partnership combines premium digital content featuring world No. 1 Jannik Sinner with virtual perimeter advertising, enabling the Italian brand to engage audiences across Europe and the Americas through a targeted, market-led activation.
Commenting on the partnership, Rosolino Amenta, Managing Director Italy, SPORTFIVE 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 an international scale.
“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 an international scale.”
The expanded partnership underscores Tennis Australia’s ambition to grow its commercial footprint beyond its traditional markets by adopting a more localised sponsorship strategy. By leveraging SPORTFIVE’s commercial network and expertise across Europe, the governing body aims to create tailored partnership opportunities that resonate with regional audiences while enhancing the Australian Open’s global brand value.
The agreement also reflects a broader shift across international sport, with rights holders increasingly favouring market-specific commercial strategies that combine premium event assets with data-driven, technology-enabled activation opportunities for sponsors.
