NEW YORK – There she is, a woman drinking a cocktail in a collectible plastic cup with her name on it six times. Serena Williams, six-time US Open champion, and the Honey Deuce, the most iconic drink in the tennis world.
What do they have in common? Both are extremely popular and generate a lot of money.
Williams returned to the venue where she began her road to stardom. He won her first Grand Slam at Flushing Meadows in 1999 and retired there in 2022. And since then she has made her commercial success pay off like never before.
Athlete turned entrepreneur, says her Instagram bio.
The years in which the youngest of the Williams sisters has been off the court have been the most profitable: she has increased her fortune by nearly 30% according to Forbes. She maintains a dozen sponsors.
The former world number one has given strength to her venture capital firm, Serena Ventures, where she is an active investor; she is co-founder of Will Perform, a startup she launched shortly after her retirement from tennis to create muscle and skin care products; in 2023 she launched the multimedia platform Nine Two Six; and in early 2024 she signed a licensing deal with cosmetics company Wyn Beauty.
“Honey, this is not deuce, this is Honey Ace, just rename it, it’s good”, Williams said in a video uploaded to her Tik Tok account after taking a sip of the drink that people are lining up for in the sunshine at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre.
“I’m drinking the famous Honey Deuce drink and everyone’s like, ‘Have you ever had one?’ No, because I’ve always been playing. But I’d like to have a Honey Deuce with Cincoro and you know it’., said the former tennis player, who prefers tequila over vodka, which is the base for the much-loved cocktail.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion also invested in Cincoro, Michael Jordan’s tequila brand. In an interview with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show, Williams gave tasty details of how she came to acquire part of the brand.
but
‘Michael Jordan reachet out. I actually liked the product, I love tequila in general, but Ialways thought tequila was for throwing it back, you know? I didn’t know you could sip on it,” Williams confessed.
@serena Honey dew #usopen #fyp #foryourpage #serenawilliams ♬ original sound – Serenawilliams
Moving from one spirit to the other again, Grey Goose reported that in 2023 more than 450,000 Honey Deuces were sold during the tournament. Each cocktail costs – before tax – 23 dollars. Taking into account that it went up a dollar this year and applying simple mathematics, the US Open raised an impressive $9.9 million from the sale of that product alone. It serves to pay the prize money to the men’s and women’s champions, and keep the change.
It’s 1, 1/4 oz of a vodka with a better reputation and marketing than quality, 1/2 oz of raspberry liqueur and 3 oz of lemon juice. Ice and three little balls of honeyduke representing tennis balls. And don’t forget the collectable cup, which has the names of all the Open Era champions written on it. Williams’ (along with Chris Evert) is the most repeated.
Williams enjoyed her visit to Flushing Meadows in the company of singer Alicia Keys, received the affection of the people and took the opportunity to give advice and words of encouragement to some of her former male colleagues.
He went to one of the Arthur Ashe Stadium suites to see her friend Grigor Dimitrov, who was later surprised in the on-court interview by her presence. ‘Yesterday she gave me a good peep talk,’ the Bulgarian said.
Another tennis player was blessed with Williams’ word before taking to the court. Frances Tiafoe took the voltage from the multi-time champion before the last 16: “For her wanting to come
out and talk to me before the match, telling me she’s always following no matter what, telling me it’s so good to see now that I’m done, you’re the guy of color playing and doing well. I’m, like, going to come from her, that’s a loud sentence. I’m, like, damn. That’s really, really cool that she sees me as that. I was nervous to respond,” he revealed after his win on Sunday.
It’s the Serena Williams effect that at the US Open 2024 is back in the limelight. Off court this time.
