LTA Tennis Sponsorship

In summer 2024, we joined forces with the LTA to make history, becoming their official water partner and the first ever non-single-use water brand to sponsor British Tennis.

Replacing the LTA’s previous long-standing single-use water sponsor, we took an important step forward to make single-use bottled water a thing of the past and, safe to say, we aced it!

Thanks to everyone involved and those who attended, together we smashed our target and removed the equivalent of over 220,000 single-use bottles from the 2024 LTA major events during the summer (twice the amount of what we set out to!) - all by supplying the same BRITA water you know and love at home, via BRITA water dispensers and reusable bottles on courts and stands.

Together we proved that, by simply switching from single-use bottled water to BRITA water, it's possible to be kinder to the planet without compromising on quality, experience and, of course, taste.

Serving up a first-of-its-kind sponsorship

A person pouring BRITA filtered water into a reusable BRITA bottle

Filtered on tap:

Filtered BRITA water was supplied on tap, on and off courts, for players, officials and all attendees to drink and enjoy from any reusable bottle they chose to use, BRITA or other.

A person pouring BRITA filtered water into LARQ bottle

Sustainable sipping:

Reusable BRITA bottles were provided to all players, officials, and ball boys and girls. Bottles were also available for spectators to purchase on-site for those who did not wish to bring their own reusable bottle.

Don’t bottle it:

Single-use plastic bottle water was officially removed across all major LTA 2024 tournaments, preventing over 220,000 single-use plastic bottles from going to waste!

“Let’s take a step back... how did we get here?”

Last year, we made it our mission to shed light on the absurdities within the bottled water industry, and the multi-million market around it. After all, in a country where tap water is one of the safest to drink, why do many think that bottled water is a better option?

The answer is that the bottled water industry worked hard, from the 1970s to date, to frame itself as something ‘essential’. Associated with desirable and aspirational connotations, the industry has lent credibility and glamour to cultural moments and occasions, such as big tennis tournaments. So much so that it now reigns supreme around the world – despite its widely acknowledged environmentally detrimental impact.

Our whitepaper exposed that an additional 221,000 branded plastic bottles were sold every day in 2022 as a direct result of advertising and marketing tactics – a number expected to grow to 413 million over the next five years (2022-2026). And that’s when we knew our fight had only just begun...

Recruiting British TV legend James Buckley as our superhero, we embarked on a mission to get more and more people to realise that, after all, it’s all a bit ridiculous - isn’t it? From fashion collabs to celebrity endorsements, and massive sports sponsorship deals, bottled water is everywhere... and tennis is not exempt.

Our call didn’t go unnoticed – actually, it was heard loud and clear by the LTA and this year, by working in partnership, we made history by bettering a space historically dominated by single-use bottled water. Aced it.

A graphic of a woman tennis player with a single-use plastic bottle.

2001

Buxton serves up a marketing deal with Wimbledon – replacing Diet Coke as the on-court drink of choice. A Perrier Vittel spokeswoman says that "consumers appreciate the purity of mineral water instead of chemicals".

2007

A single-use plastic bottled water brand sponsors 19-year-old Andy Murray, paying him £1million to wear their 10cm logo on his shirt sleeve.

2008

A big year for big water and tennis: Evian announces their partnership with Wimbledon spending £3 million for the opportunity after seeing their 2007 net profit tripling to a 3.1 billion euro.

2013

A Glasgow University professor highlights concerns with the country’s increasing consumption of bottled water, posing a threat to the environment while raising huge profits for the big brands, calling the industry ‘a big scam’. A problem we’re still facing a decade later.

2019

Glastonbury, the UK’s biggest festival, fully bans single-use plastic bottles from being sold on-site proving it is possible to hold an event without the need for single-use bottled water.

2023

Evian introduces the first-ever refillable system at Championships... for players only, and not available to the public. In the same year, BRITA’s whitepaper reveals that an additional 280 million branded water bottles will be sold by 2026 if no action is taken.

Woman tennis player with Active Water Filter Bottle

2024

BRITA becomes the LTA’s official water sponsor, and the first-ever non-single-use water brand to sponsor UK tennis – marking a long-awaited milestone in history.

Looking ahead

Whilst this sponsorship is a step in the right direction, our mission against single-use bottled water doesn’t stop here. This year, we broke a long-standing cycle and proved that hydration in tennis (and all sports) is possible without single-use bottled water, hoping to inspire more fans, players and tournaments to follow in our footsteps.

Tennis players playing tennis at a LTA tournament

The future of sustainable tennis

As the National Governing Body of Tennis for Great Britain, the LTA is aware of the significant waste and carbon emissions generally produced by tennis events, alongside the growing risk wider climate crisis poses on our beloved sport. Leading the way for sustainability in British tennis, the LTA has committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2030, whilst also supporting the wider tennis community in reducing carbon emissions. The LTA aims to prevent the threat the climate crisis can pose tennis at all levels – from extreme temperatures, to flooding risks. The Environmental Sustainability Plan outlines all steps and commitments the LTA is undertaking to positively impact their environmental footprint, and ensure tennis is here to enjoy for generations to come.