Why tennis stars like Andy Murray turn to investment during and after their careers

When Andy Murray was weighing up his latest investment, he didn’t leave anything to chance.

After the usual meetings with bosses at Hylo, a running-shoe brand focused on sustainability, Murray conducted a different kind of due diligence: He tried the shoes himself. Then he asked his wife, Kim, and her runner friends, to do the same. Then he went to local stores, asking owners if people were buying the shoes and what they thought of them.

Satisfied with his DIY market research, Murray made a significant investment — neither he nor Hylo would confirm its exact magnitude — which was announced Wednesday with a deadpan news release and video in keeping with the personality tennis fans knew during his on-court career.

“This isn’t about him,” the news release said.

“It goes without saying that this partnership has definitely, completely, utterly nothing to do with Andy’s desire to one up his former sparring partner and to recreate the success that he’s had in the running industry.”

That sparring partner is Roger Federer, the 20-time Grand Slam champion and investor in On, another running-shoe brand with tennis and apparel lines. In 2019, Federer invested $50 million for a three-percent stake. Six years later, following the launch of a tennis shoe called the Roger, Federer’s stake was worth more than $375 million and a key driver in his becoming the seventh billionaire athlete, as estimated by Forbes.

Whether they first get involved while playing, or wait until after retirement, tennis stars are increasingly turning toward the investment world as a vehicle for their lives during and after tennis. During their careers, they are investments, for equipment and apparel sponsors, brands seeking endorsements, and even tournaments paying appearance fees. Building those careers also takes significant investment, whether from family or other figures who are seeking a return of their own.

For players like Murray, Federer, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Andy Roddick, leaving the court has meant putting their minds to returns of a different kind, and finding parallels between the skills they used to win Grand Slam titles and the ones they need to make decisions about how and why to invest their career earnings.

“Investing was something I did a bit when I was playing,” Murray, who became an associate partner with venture capital firm Redrice in May last year, said during a video interview a couple of weeks ago.

“But I take a little bit more of an interest in it now since I finished because I have a bit more time and am able to get a bit more involved.”

Murray, 38, has independently invested in more than 40 companies. He made the majority of his investments before he retired from tennis in summer 2024, and before joining Redrice.

During a career in which he reached world No. 1, and won three Grand Slam titles and two Olympic golds, his most significant one came in 2019. He took an equity stake in the clothing brand Castore, alongside a sponsorship deal, before launching the collaborative clothing line AMC. At the time, Castore was a barely known four-year old company yet to turn a profit. It is now worth around $1.3 billion, with Murray’s net worth around $110 million.

Murray’s investment in Hylo follows the opposite pattern, because Redrice was part of an early-stage $3.1 million investment in 2022. But whenever and wherever he and other stars have invested, one throughline has been applying lessons from their sporting lives to their financial ones. Decades of evaluating opponents psychologically naturally lends itself to feeling out how potential partners might behave — and whether or not they will be a good fit.

“You can have a great idea, but if the people who are running the business are not good people then it’s likely to fail,” Murray said. During a recent phone interview, Tom March, who founded Redrice, likened Murray’s attention to detail regarding Hylo’s potential to the process of choosing and changing racket specs and tensions.

Other stars who have moved into the financial world echo these kinds of analogies, based on the knowledge that sporting careers are short and that their lives stretch well beyond their achievements on the tennis court. Business offers both financial opportunity and a sense of purpose beyond sport — plus the chance to be part of a team. Players often speak of chasing the adrenaline they had while playing, which can lead them to pursuits like poker, that carry a much higher degree of risk, or to the complete opposite.

Roddick, who has amassed a small fortune from a commercial real estate company, described his investment as “the most boring business you’ll ever hear about” during a 2024 interview.

“I was very well aware that it would end one day. I didn’t know when, I didn’t know how, but I was always in the mindset that I wanted to have the strongest foundation to build something,” Maria Sharapova, who launched now-defunct candy brand Sugarpova during her career and has become an angel investor since, said during an interview with Roddick’s podcast, Served.

Serena Williams, who set up Serena Ventures in 2017, in 2024 told the New York Times that she “had to make quick decisions under pressure, and in business I’ve found that trusting one’s self, even when there’s uncertainty, is crucial.”

Murray reflected on a dynamic which is essential to tennis, but lesser-seen in business. The player is tasked with being the boss — often long before they are really ready.

“It’s something I actually really struggled with in my career — particularly early on,” Murray said.

“The dynamic of a young person supposed to be leading a team … It’s just bizarre in tennis and you’re not really equipped with the skills to do that at a young age. You learn a little bit as your career goes on but it is difficult.”

Andre Agassi, who has invested heavily in areas like education and pickleball, said in a recent phone interview that “the biggest overlap would just be the problem-solving nature of it.

“We have to solve problems when we’re out there, and we usually have to do that alone. As a result, I think you build a muscle that allows you to be objective about certain weaknesses and strengths in anything you get involved with.”

“I would definitely agree with the problem-solving side of things because the vast majority of businesses take time,” Murray said.

“You have to learn from mistakes and always be looking to improve. And as an athlete you spend your whole career, well the best ones do, doing that.”

Murray is yet to speak to Federer about this iteration of their rivalry, but the pair most recently played golf together in Dubai when they were both on family holidays. Murray said he probably won on the day, before deadpanning that “he’s not playing like six hours a day like I am. He’s got a lot more going on in his life than I do.”

Murray, Federer and their other two main rivals, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, have all entered the investment world since retiring — or in Djokovic’s case, playing on. Nadal has invested heavily in hospitality and education, while Djokovic, who Murray coached for six months until last May, focuses primarily on health and wellness ventures.

But investment and its other avenues, like corporate board membership, still remain secondary to becoming either a pundit or a coach for most stars entering the twilight of their careers. Murray, who spends much of his life in retirement acting either as a child taxi or playing golf and does the bulk of his investment work from his Surrey home on Tuesdays, when his local club is closed, remains intrigued but guarded about those two avenues.

“I think at some stage I probably would (consider a return to coaching),” Murray, who was part of Djokovic’s team during the early part of last season, including at the Australian Open said. He has had opportunities since, but having not wanted to become a coach so soon after playing, receiving an offer too good to turn down from the 24-Grand Slam champion only deferred some time fully detached from the sport that he always wanted to have.

“My priorities are lying elsewhere just now, but I would do it again in the future,” he said.

“I do like the idea of helping a much younger player, a little bit like — not that I would expect it to turn out like this — the (Juan Carlos) Ferrero-(Carlos) Alcaraz relationship. A younger player that you’re really able to help and have a really positive influence on. I would find something like that quite interesting but certainly not right now.”

Murray’s caution extends to analysis and television work.

“My feeling is that punditry in general, particularly when you have a name within the sport, is quite easy,” he said.

“There are some people that are very good at it. Jim Courier and Andy Roddick were great at the game, but also love the game and are very well researched and speak really, really well and are very passionate about it. And do the job extremely well. They’re not just turning up because they’re getting paid and just throwing out random comments, having not really watched the players and not really thinking much about what they’re saying.

“So it can be done extremely well, but I don’t think that’s always the case. And I think tennis needs to sort of improve the way that they do punditry but it’s not something that right now I’m massively into doing. I wouldn’t rule out doing it in the future, but I don’t really want to do it right now.”

Murray still follows the sport, but didn’t hit a tennis ball for nine months after splitting with Djokovic. He only did so again a few weeks ago for a promotional activity, testing out rackets from tennis’ different eras. “I hadn’t completely lost it, which was nice,” he said with typical understatement, before returning to the connection between the sport that defined his first career and the business that is, at least for now, defining his second.

“I guess it’s that journey of seeing a company grow and improve, supporting a company at the beginning and seeing them turn into something good or great,” he said.

“It’s not straightforward. Not every investment you make is successful. There are ups and downs, a bit like in a sporting career.”

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