Kia joins TPL in a three-year push for Indian tennis

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Kia India has signed a three-year exclusive sponsorship deal with the Tennis Premier League, putting the carmaker across the league’s app, branding and front-of-jersey inventory for all eight franchise teams. The timing matters because Indian tennis is trying to widen its base beyond elite circuits, and TPL is positioning itself as a structured bridge between grassroots talent and professional visibility.

The partnership links Kia’s long-running global tennis association, including its Australian Open connect, with a home-grown league that has completed seven seasons under the All India Tennis Association framework. TPL’s wider pitch is not just event sponsorship, but a participation funnel: tournaments, digital discovery and scholarships aimed at younger players.

The strongest signal is at the grassroots level. TPL says its Race to Gold Scholarship initiative has supported more than 80 young tennis players over the past two years, and the Kia partnership aims to back 120-plus additional athletes in the coming years. That gives the deal a clearer development angle than a standard logo-led sports sponsorship.

“At Kia India, we believe sports have the power to inspire aspirations and create meaningful cultural connections,” said Atul Sood, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Kia India. He added that the partnership reflects a shared aim “to make tennis more engaging and relevant for a new generation of audiences in India.”

Kunal Thakkur, co-founder, Tennis Premier League, said Kia’s backing gives TPL confidence “to scale our efforts and truly impact the future of Indian tennis.”

For Kia, the deal adds a youth-facing sports platform in a market where brand affinity increasingly depends on culture, not just product campaigns. For TPL, it brings credibility, visibility and commercial oxygen. The test now is whether sponsorship money can convert into more courts, more coaching access and a bigger pipeline of Indian tennis talent.