50 years, BNP Paribas has supported tennis, with which it shares the values of fair play, commitment and performance. The Group is now a major partner in global tennis, through a unique and historic commitment that has lasted since 1973 and applies to all levels of tennis practice throughout the world.
It all started in 1973, when the French Tennis Federation asked BNP Paribas to finance the construction of the center court box seats at Roland-Garros Stadium. In recognition of this partnership, three letters appeared on the famous court cover: BNP became the official sponsor of the Roland-Garros French Open, now one of the world’s foremost sporting events.
It’s often said that tennis is an individual sport, but it’s thanks to them and to you that it takes on its full meaning. For 50 years, we’ve been convinced that tennis is even more beautiful when it’s collective and focused on youth.
BNP Paribas is now a major partner in global tennis through a unique, faithful and historical commitment that applies to all forms of tennis: singles, doubles, wheelchair tennis (World Team Cup, French Riviera Open, French Championships), team, family (BNP Paribas Family Trophy), amateur, university (BNP Paribas Master'U); from learning to the largest professional tournaments.
Roland-Garros was just the first in a long series of partnerships, developed with tournaments and professional competitions around the world: BNP Paribas as title sponsor of the Billie Jean King Cup, sponsor of three ATP Masters 1000 (BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Monte Carlo Rolex Masters, BNL Italian Open in Rome), Open 13 Provence (Marseille), Lyon Open Parc, Moselle Open (in Metz, France), BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open.
The Group also promotes corporate sport through its employee tournament, the ‘We Are Tennis Cup', which has become one of the world's leading corporate sporting events, involving nearly 4,000 employees each year.
BNP appears on the tarps at Roland-Garros.
The Group expands support for amateur and professional tennis in France. Today BNP Paribas is a partner of three ATP 250 tournaments (Open 13 of Marseille, Lyon Open and Moselle Open in Metz) and three ATP Challengers (Bordeaux, Rennes and Vendée).
First partnership for disabled athletes.
BNP Paribas internationalizes partnerships, with the Fed Cup, Rome Masters, BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, Monte Carlo Masters, BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open, etc.
BNP Paribas' partnership goes digital with the launch of the digital platform We Are Tennis.
The Group expands its commitment to tennis with the 'Aces du Cœurs' (support for hospitals)
BNP Paribas becomes a partner of the largest Tennis gaming tournament, the Roland Garros eSeries by BNP Paribas.
Launch of the BNP Paribas Young Talent Team (support for young tennis hopefuls)
Launch of Félix Auger-Aliassime's initiative to support education in Togo
50 years of a tennis partnership!
BNP Paribas has been working for several years to set up a more committed and responsible sponsorship. How? By supporting positive impact programmes that promote equal opportunities and the inclusion of young people, such as the BNP Paribas Young Talent Team, the 'Aces du Cœur' (Aces of Hearts) solidarity scheme and the Félix Auger-Aliassime initiative to support education in Togo.
In 2018, BNP Paribas launched an initiative to help create the next generation of top-level tennis players. A total of 150 promising young players, across 7 teams in 6 countries, are now involved in the various support programmes created by BNP Paribas.
Team Young Talents France
Other programmes along these lines are being implemented, including in Italy, South Africa, Poland and Belgium. These initiatives are part of the BNP Paribas Group’s commitment policy towards today’s youth and are designed to support equal opportunities and inclusion for young people.
In 2022, the Young Talent Team in France launched a solidarity programme: for each point scored by the young players on the professional circuit, BNP Paribas will donate €1 to a solidarity project with the Apprentis d'Auteuil NGO. The aim is to offer young people from underprivileged areas a holiday and to introduce them to the game of tennis.
Since 2000, BNP Paribas has also helped select Roland Garros' ball persons. In 2021, BNP Paribas and the FFT launched a platform dedicated to all the ball persons at Roland-Garros for the last 20 years or more, to enable these tennis enthusiasts to maintain contact through exclusive content and entertainment.
BNP Paribas supports Félix Auger-Aliassime in his commitment to child education in Togo. Considered as one of the most promising tennis players of his generation, he wishes to give meaning to his career beyond his sporting results and to have a positive impact on society.
In early 2020, he launched a solidarity programme with BNP Paribas to foster the future of young generations by improving education and protecting children's rights in the Kara region of Togo, his father's country of origin.
For every point the player wins on the ATP circuit, Félix Auger Aliassime gives $5 and BNP Paribas tops it up by $15. The amount raised finances the EduChange programme set up by the NGO Care. In January 2023, the counter has already tallied more than 16,600 points!
In 2015, BNP Paribas launched the ‘Aces du Coeur’ (Aces of Hearts) so that, at its partner tournaments, aces scored by the players would drive up a counter dedicated to financing social and self-help projects (environment, gender equality, youth inclusion) or projects aimed at improving living conditions in the neonatology departments of hospitals near tournaments. For example, at Roland-Garros with the Robert Debré hospital, in Marseille with the hospital in La Timone, and for the CHU in Rennes.
Since 2015, nearly €600,000 has been transferred to the various projects supported by the Aces du Coeur.
In 2011, BNP Paribas created wearetennis.bnpparibas and related social networks, a platform entirely devoted to tennis news, with a constant flow of information about all the players and tournaments, all over the world. We Are Tennis is also an expression of a committed sponsor who wants to share its passion for this sport and to serve fans by providing them with unique experiences.
This platform, which has been rolled out internationally, notably in the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, Belgium and Turkey, now includes over 3 million fans on the website and related social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram).
As a long-standing tennis partner, BNP Paribas has innovated again and again, creating, in 2015, the ‘We Are Tennis Fan Academy,’ with international tennis legend, John McEnroe, as Captain and Ambassador. This first tennis fan school recruits and trains ‘super supporters,’ who know how to play by the rules and demonstrate fair play, to host the various tournaments and competitions sponsored by BNP Paribas around the world.
