Joe Kinsey
Videos by OutKick
What a year it’s been for, Rachel Stuhlmann, the world’s number-one tennis influencer, as named by OutKick. We’re talking about a historic run like Roger Federer dominating tennis for four straight years as the No. 1 player.
While Paige Spiranac was busy dominating the tabloid headlines via her golf dominance, the other country club sport — tennis — was sitting in the corner fiddling its thumbs trying to figure out a way into the mix. Enter Stuhlmann, who now boasts a significant 231k Instagram follower count.
And she’s delivering results to those followers.
Since the U.S. Open, she’s been to Paris to influence the Rolex Paris Masters event and then she returned to the States for this past weekend’s All American Tennis Cup where she handled interview duties. On Instagram, Stuhlmann described it as “An unforgettable weekend.”
Then it was off to her home city, St. Louis, for another tennis event and now 2022 is over. It’s time for the holidays and a chance to regroup before 2023 cranks up with what should be a trip to the Australian Open for Stuhlmann, who played college tennis at Missouri.
There are hundreds of tennis brands that would be dumb not to do a deal with Stuhlmann to get her on the ground in Sydney — hey brands, it’ll be summer down there if you were unaware — to do some influencing. Think about how golf influencer and social media savant Alexandra O’Laughlin will pop up at golf events in Ireland where she’s modeling a watch. That’s what Stuhlmann should be doing in Australia.
And conducting interviews with tennis royalty.
And pumping out Instagram content for those in the U.S. dealing with winter.
Here’s exactly how a brand should deploy Rachel in Australia:
- Rachel models a watch at the airport as she’s about to board a plane to Australia. Boom, there’s eyeballs on the watch and Rachel announcing to the world that there’s a big tennis event coming up and she’s heading to the action. Give the tabloids some red meat, 1-2 photos, some sort of announcement that “I’m BACK” and you’ve got headlines on websites from L.A. to London.
- Rachel gets on the ground in Australia and shows off her 5-star hotel. Again, maybe one photo. The rest of the content goes on IG Story and TikTok.
- Rachel attends some big tennis event. Maybe you get her a hosting gig on the red carpet. Or don’t even bother.
- Rachel explores Rod Laver Arena and the grounds. She shows off her watch.
- Rachel plays a quick match against some retired A-list tennis guy, if possible. Instant worldwide headlines.
I just guaranteed some tennis brand millions upon millions of eyeballs. Hire Stuhlmann for Australia and it’s game on.
“With the ATP Finals wrapping up, this is the very rare and short time of the year that the tennis season is ‘off,'” Stuhlmann wrote Monday on Instagram.
“I’m using this time to work on a variety of different projects, plan for next year, and spend time with family and friends.”
And then coming back to dominate 2023.
