Simona Halep, the fifth-ranked women’s tennis player in the world, has signed a new multiyear partnership with Mercedes-Benz Romania.
As part of the relationship, Halep will serve as a brand ambassador for the luxury automaker in her native country. She will appear in Mercedes-Benz marketing campaigns, appear at events for the brand, and promote the brand on her social media channels. The partnership was secured by Lagardère Sports, which partnered with Halep last July to grow her profile and off court commercial portfolio.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled to partner with Mercedes-Benz,” said Halep. “Mercedes-Benz is a historic brand known for style and performance around the world, and I’m looking forward to working together with them in my home country.”
“I am delighted that Simona Halep has joined the Mercedes-Benz family in Romania, especially as we celebrate a half-century of AMG driving performance and refined excellence,” said Philipp Hagenburger, Managing Director Passenger Cars and CEO Mercedes-Benz Romania. “Both Mercedes-Benz Romania and Simona are committed to progressively shaping the future and with being ‘the Best’, and we are genuinely thrilled with this new partnership.”
“It’s great to be able to leverage our global network and expertise in tennis to play a part in this new partnership for Simona,” said Julien Cassaigne, Lagardère Sports Senior Vice President, Tennis. “When looking at possible partners for Simona, the automotive category had significant opportunities and Mercedes-Benz is a perfect fit on a variety of levels.”
Halep played her first professional qualifying match in 2009 and has won 14 career singles titles to date. She was also a finalist at Roland-Garros and a runner up at the WTA Finals in Singapore in 2014. Halep was named the WTA’s Most Improved Player in 2013, WTATennis.com’s Most Popular Player of the Year in 2014 and 2015, and won the Diamond Aces award, given to the player who endlessly promotes tennis on and off the court, in 2016.
Simona is okay but relies too much on retrieving and lacks the punch to be a slam winner.