Nike continues its creative Grand Slam

In anticipation of the 2025 Australian Open, Nike has launched a decidedly excellent advertisement featuring World No. 1 tennis player Aryna Sabalenka.

The ad, Sabalenka's first solo commercial with the brand, is an ode to her on court power. The 40-second spot, developed by Wieden & Kennedy, showcases Sabalenka in a setting filled with shattered objects, which fall victim to her powerful service game.

Set to Nancy Sinatra’s ‘Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)’ the ad creatively displays speed readings corresponding to the destruction of several SUVs, with her serve reaching a peak of 214 km/h. A playful warning advises viewers: “The following is a test. Do not attempt to recreate the power of Aryna Sabalenka at home.”

Shot by Axel Pettersson and directed by Kiki Ohe, the ad is tied together with some tasteful lime green font use, reminiscent of Charlie XCX’s Brat cover or, well, tennis balls if you’re more literal.

The ad taps into a similar creative vein to its Olympic Games outings, such as Nike proves effective storytelling can happen in under 30 seconds, also by Wieden & Kennedy, maintaining its focus on high-impact, adrenaline-inducing visuals.

Our take

Nike makes a welcome return to the Creative Moment pages, finessing its 30 seconds of eyeball real estate in style.

Short and punchy seems to be the go-to formula for the sports brand of late, in contrast to some lengthy Wieden & Kennedy offerings that dropped in the previous decade, including Nike’s most watched ad: You Can’t Stop Us (2020).

For me, however, the defining Nike ad is 1995’s ‘The Longest Point’, starring Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras: two icons of the time whose personalities were diametrically opposed.

A special shoutout should also go to Nike’s 1992 ‘Instant Karma’ advert, featuring John Lennon’s biting anthem of the same name (Pop fact: the song was written and recorded in a day, adding to its theme of immediacy).

I include this because it makes me nostalgic, but also because, production-wise, it demonstrates a consistency to Nike’s sporting depictions, with high-tempo action cuts, cracking soundtrack choices, and rapid-fire typography.