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The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is partnering with digital art platform Artchild to launch fan-customizable digital and physical tennis posters at the 2023 Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, Italy later this month.
The core poster will be designed by Los Angeles-based artist Honor Titus for the season-ending tournament from November 12-19. Titus, known internationally for tennis-themed paintings, said in a release that is tennis is "so very rich with history and elegant nuance that it makes for an excellent subject for the artist."
Fans can customize their own versions of the official Nitto ATP Finals poster on Artchild's digital platform using artist-curated color palettes. The posters will be printed and shipped to purchasers along with an NFT collectible minted on Polygon, an Ethereum scaling network.
Some fan-designed poster renditions will be displayed at the tournament's Pala Alpitour arena. The original poster by Titus will only be available during the 2023 finals and will sell for $50 plus shipping, which covers both the NFT version and the physical print. It will be available online and at the Nitto ATP Finals fan village.
Singles players competing in the Nitto ATP Finals will also create unique versions of the poster to be auctioned for charity during the event. Proceeds will support an environmental initiative promoting green spaces in Turin, the host city.
The ATP said the collaboration "builds upon a longstanding tradition of iconic sporting posters" collected by generations of fans. Mark Epps, ATP's Director of Communications and Web, said that the organization was inspired to "reimagine one of the most iconic collectibles in tennis culture: the tournament poster."
This isn't ATP's first NFT initiative. Last November, the league partnered with generative art platform Art Blocks in collaboration with artist Martin Grasser to launch the "Love" digital art series based on match data from the 2022 Finals. Owners of those "Love" NFT pieces can claim one of the 2023 customizable posters for free.