Tennis stars are cashing in on the NFT craze. NFT stands for Non-fungible token. Most NFTs belong to the Ethereum blockchain. Ethereum is a cryptocurrency similar to bitcoin, which is more popular.

Oleksandra Oliynykova Sells Spot On Skin

Croatian tennis player Oleksandra Oliynykova has sold a spot for $5,000 on the NFT marketplace, Opensea. The buyer got exclusive lifetime ownership of part of Oliynykova’s right arm. The owner of the spot between the elbow and the shoulder can ask for a tattoo or body art installed. She is currently ranked 685th in the world.

Oliynykova’s listing read:

I will bring your art object or message to every tennis court I play.  As I am 20 years old only and my sports career is on the rise, I believe it’s going to be the biggest tennis location in the world.

Jessica Pegula Launches NFT Trading Cards

Jessica Pegula has released the “The Jessica Pegula Limited Edition NFT Collection”, which includes five different NFT trading cards. Each card is digitally hand-signed and numbered by Pegula.

The auction winner will receive autographed merchandise from Jessica Pegula. The proceeds from the auction will go towards the cost of the adoption cost of one dog per card auctioned through a nonprofit organization.

Pegula is currently ranked 58th in the world in singles. She reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open earlier this year.

Venus Williams has written a touching piece on gender equality in Vogue magazine. Read the full article via the link above.

It wasn’t until 2007 when I became a four-time Wimbledon champion that I received equal prize money to my male counterparts—the first woman to do so. The road was long and meandering, and it took 39 years of women fighting for equal prize money; more than two years campaigning with the WTA, and an opinion piece in The Times to get there. But now we have equal pay in tennis at the majors and combined events—true equality.

There is still a mindset that women’s tennis isn’t as valuable as men’s. I went on to win another Wimbledon championship in 2008 and I’ve won four Olympic gold medals over the course of my career—I refuse to let that mindset dictate my success. And we must not allow it to dictate society’s progress.

-Venus Williams