Are Attractive Female Tennis Players More Successful in Tennis? An Empirical Analysis

Bakkenbüll Linn-Brit, Kiefer Stephanie

Abstract

This study examines whether there is a relationship between physical attractiveness of professional female tennis players ranked in the top 100 of the tennis world ranking in 2011 and their sporting success in terms of earned prize money and winning probabilities. OLS-regressions reveal a significantly positive relationship between physical attractiveness and sporting success in terms of prize money for the years 2012 and 2013 as well as for the whole career. Furthermore, a logit-model shows that the larger the difference in physical attractiveness is, the higher is the winning probability for the more attractive player in individual matches.