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Orgo-Life the new way to the future Advertising by AdpathwayPro tennis is a beautiful but brutal sport—watching the fastest, strongest and most aggressive players (think Rafael Nadal pitted against the kinetic, elegant beauty of Federer) is like seeing a work of art unfold in real time. The killer 129 m.p.h. serves of Venus and Serena Williams and Reilly Opelka's 149 m.p.h. "tornadoes" are equal parts shocking and breathtaking. The power of Andy Murray's two-handed backhand and John McEnroe's soft-touch volleys are finesse epitomized. Perfecting the game takes many hours on the court, starting at a very young age, which means most of the pros have no life outside of tennis until they retire.
While tennis's top stars are pictures of grace, control and power, most can't maintain such extreme levels of prowess for years upon years without injuries and burnout. Upon retirement, perhaps unsurprisingly, those ranked #1 during their careers by the Association of Tennis Professionals for their consistency and level of performance often channel that passion into other endeavors: coaching, philanthropy, entrepreneurship or analysis. Some find their way into the art world as collectors, bringing their A games to the market and carving their signatures in the industry, perhaps discovering the next Kara Walker or Andy Warhol. Tennis pros like those below know, after all, what it takes not just to attain but also to sustain greatness. Following what they collect is one more way to see into the inner worlds of those who've reached the pinnacle of success.
John McEnroe
- #1 in singles in 1980 and doubles in 1983
McEnroe did most of his major collection in the 1980s and '90s, acquiring works by many of the heavy hitters in the art world, like Ed Ruscha, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kara Walker, Bob Thompson and Glenn Ligon. He notably traded tennis lessons with Eric Fischl for paintings and commissioned Warhol to make a portrait of himself with then-wife Tatum O'Neal. He also collected Gorky's Pirate series paintings and large-scale works by Philip Guston; he owned the 50-foot Mark Bradford painting Helter Skelter, which he later sold at auction for $10.4 million. Unlike other sports stars who collect art as an asset or for cultural cred, McEnroe has been immersed in the art world for decades; in 1994, he even opened an art gallery in SoHo, which showed works by Guston, Bill Traylor and Basquiat. McEnroe was an early collector of Basquiat's paintings of the 1980s; he now buys large-scale contemporary works with hopes they will be exhibited in museums.
The Williams Sisters
- Venus, a seven-time major singles champion, and Serena, a 23-time major singles champion
It's well-known by now that Serena Williams's home in Miami sports a private art gallery. In her collection is the large sculpture, Monument for a Promise by Radcliffe Bailey, and Bailey's collage painting, Astro Black, along with historic, hand-carved wooden doors from Nepal. She also owns work by Leonardo Drew, known for his assemblages; Titus Kaphar, who juxtaposes Western art traditions with Black figures; David Kracov's 3D sculptures; and pieces from the KAWS x Campana Brothers collaboration (Brian Donnelly with Humberto and Fernando Campana), which produced furniture made from KAWS's plush toy characters. Serena herself paints, inspired by the Argentine-Italian painter Lucio Fontana.
Venus Williams, a designer and patron, serves on the board of the National Gallery of Art and also collects art. In 2023, she told Cultured that she was obsessed with Piet Mondrian. A patron of Black artists, she owns Brilliantly Endowed (1977) by Barkley L. Hendricks, the artist's nude self-portrait, in which he's dressed only in sneakers and socks, wearing glasses and a white newsboy cap. One of her first acquisitions was an early photographic print by Kehinde Wiley. Venus also owns A Woman on the Train Asks Angela Davis for a Photograph (2014), a silkscreen by Adam Pendleton.
Wojtek Fibak
- Top 10 player in the 1980s and '90s
Fibak was notably exceptional in both singles and doubles, and today is one of Poland's most significant and influential private art collectors. According to Larry's List, the former top-10 tennis champion began building his collection in the 1970s, which has grown to include over 500 total works—roughly 200 in his Warsaw gallery and 300 across his private residences. He has works by Basquiat, Jean Dubuffet and Gerrit Rietveld, but is a passionate collector of work by Polish artists, including Voy Fangor, Stefan Gierowski, Tadeusz Kantor and Jan Lebenstein, along with younger talent like Karolina Jabłońska, Rafał Bujnowski and Anna Orłowska. His gallery, Galeria Fibak in Warsaw, is still active after two decades, and Fibak regularly lends his art to museums across Europe.
Reilly Opelka
- #17 in 2022 and currently ranked #142
Like Serena Williams, Reilly Opelka has a gallery in his Florida home. The first painting he purchased was a landscape by his friend Friedrich Kunath; he owns another painting by the German painter, with the line "Songs of Lou Reed" inscribed on the canvas. Opelka has said in interviews that he collects based on personal instinct, extensive gallery exploration and direct relationships with artists. He's drawn to rebellious, irreverent artists like Yoshitomo Nara, known for his cartoonish figures; Paul McCarthy's sculptures; Carroll Dunham's abstracts exploring sexuality; the neon lighting of Thrush Holmes; Armen Eloyan's Cartoon series paintings; and Adam Rabinowitz's narrative abstracts. This year, he and Belgian gallerist Tim Van Laere partnered with artists Rinus Van de Velde and Friedrich Kunath to create a limited edition capsule collection of gear under the label TVLG ART x TENNIS.
Ivan Lendl
- World #1 for 270 weeks starting in 1983
Lendl, who began collecting works by Czech painter, illustrator and graphic artist Alphonse Mucha in the 1980s, reportedly assembled the most complete private collection of Mucha posters and Art Nouveau artifacts in the entire world, guided by Mucha expert Jack Rennert. For years, he kept the collection in his homes, but in 2013, he exhibited his holdings publicly for the first time at the Municipal House in Prague. The show, which featured 116 out of the 119 known recorded posters by the artist, drew nearly 200,000 visitors and became the most-visited fine art exhibition in the history of the Czech Republic. A year later, Lendl sold the entire collection to the Richard Fuxa Foundation for $3.5 million; it is currently owned by Portu Gallery investments. Much of Lendl's collection, which included Gismonda (1894), the image of the actress Sarah Bernhardt that launched Mucha's fame; The Seasons (1896), with four panels representing the four seasons as women; Media (1898), of Bernhardt's role on stage; and Bières de la Meuse (1897), is now on view at the Mucha Museum in Prague.
Sir Andy Murray
- World #1 in 2016, two-time Wimbledon champion
Murray, recovering from an injury, reportedly caught the collecting bug in 2019 after sitting for a portrait by Maggi Hambling that later went on display at the National Portrait Gallery. Today, he owns seven works by Hambling, along with pieces by David Shrigley, Damien Hirst (reportedly the tennis star's favorite artist) and Ivon Hitchens, among others. His taste tends toward the abstract, and he favors modern British contemporary art on a large scale. In 2025, he told The Times that he and his wife have run out of wall space in their family home in Surrey and now rotate major works from their holdings in and out of Cromlix, the luxury Victorian country house hotel they own in Scotland, for the enjoyment of guests.
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