Ant Group, the Chinese company that owns the digital payment platform Alipay, has signed up Chinese tennis player Qinwen Zheng to a sponsorship deal. Ant Group is part of the Chinese conglomerate Alibaba Group.

Qinwen Zheng is an up-and-coming player who is ranked in the top 50 in the world. As a junior, she reached the semifinals at the French Open and US Open in 2019. After moving to the women’s tour, in 2022, she reached the fourth round at the French Open.

Zheng’s other sponsors are Nike and Wilson. It’s a clever move from Ant Group to sign up a rising tennis star early. She has powerful groundstrokes backed by a big serve and will be a grand slam contender for many years.

Rising American tennis star Ben Shelton has signed with Roger Federer‘s management company Team 8. Federer founded Team 8 with his longtime agent Tony Godsick. Team 8 represents tennis stars such as Coco Gauff and Juan Martin Del Potro.

Ben Shelton won the 2022 NCAA Division I championship representing the Florida Gators, the tennis team from the University of Florida. His dad Bryan Shelton is a former tennis player  and currently coaches the Florida Gators.

Ben Shelton was wearing On Shoes with the “RF” logo, which were sent to him by Roger Federer. Federer is an investor in the Swiss shoe brand On and wears On shoes on the court.

In addition to representing athletes, Team 8 also owns the Laver Cup, which pits top players from Europe against tennis stars from the rest of the world (called Team World).