Kia extended its global partnership with tennis, by partnering with the Tennis Premier League. The partnership is scheduled to run for three years and makes the South Korean-based car manufacturer the exclusive sponsor for the league.

With a global tennis legacy spanning 25 years through its association with the Australian Open, Kia aims to bring meaningful experiences around the sport in India too.

We caught up with Atul Sood, senior vice president, sales and marketing, Kia India, to learn more about the partnership.

What was the reason for partnering with the TPL, and how does it fit in with your global partnerships that also consist of the Australian Open?

What stood out to us about TPL was the strong alignment in vision and intent. Over the years, the league has evolved beyond just a sporting property into a platform focused on building greater visibility, participation, and relevance for tennis in India. Given Kia’s long-standing global association with tennis through the Australian Open, we saw a natural synchronisation between the direction in which TPL wants to grow the sport and the kind of long-term, engagement-led associations Kia believes in. The partnership also gives us an opportunity to connect more deeply with India’s evolving tennis ecosystem through locally relevant initiatives, grassroots engagement, and fan experiences.

How are you looking to promote this partnership?

Our approach towards this partnership is designed to go well beyond visibility-led integration. Along with brand presence across the wider TPL ecosystem, the focus will be on creating stronger engagement through digital storytelling, fan-led experiences, participation-driven initiatives, and on-ground activations.

One of the first initiatives being introduced is the Australian Open Ball Kids programme in India, which reflects our broader intent of bringing globally recognised tennis-led experiences into locally relevant consumer engagement formats.

How can you build tennis fans at a time when padel and pickleball seem to be attracting more audiences?

We believe the growing interest around sports like padel and pickleball is actually contributing positively towards the larger racquet sports ecosystem. Tennis continues to carry strong aspirational, global, and cultural relevance, and platforms like TPL are helping make the sport more contemporary, engaging, and accessible for newer audiences in India.

For Kia India, the larger objective through this partnership is to contribute towards building stronger visibility, participation, and engagement around tennis in India while creating more meaningful experiences and connections around the sport. With sustained visibility, stronger participation opportunities, grassroots development, and engaging fan experiences playing an important role, it will build wider interest around tennis over time.

Are you sponsoring this more to build the corporate identity of Kia, or will there be a particular car model you're aiming to promote?

This partnership is primarily aligned with Kia India’s broader brand-building and engagement strategy rather than being linked to any specific product or model. Through tennis, we are able to engage with audiences beyond traditional product conversations while strengthening the brand’s progressive and premium positioning.

At the same time, sports partnerships like these also help create stronger emotional and cultural connections with consumers, which is increasingly important in today’s evolving brand landscape.

The commercial viability and rapid growth of women's sports are currently major focal points in sports marketing. Given that the TPL features a mixed-gender format, how does this sponsorship align with Kia's broader initiatives to support and amplify women in sports?

The mixed-gender format followed by TPL reflects the inclusive and progressive nature that sport should inherently represent. At Kia India, we believe platforms that create equal visibility, participation, and opportunities help strengthen the overall sporting ecosystem and make the sport more engaging as well as accessible for wider audiences.

More broadly, Kia globally has consistently associated with sporting platforms that promote inclusivity, accessibility, and wider engagement, and TPL’s format aligns naturally with that philosophy. From our perspective, the growing visibility and commercial momentum around women’s sports is a very positive shift for the industry overall.