Are Attractive Female Tennis Players More Successful? An Empirical Analysis

Abstract

SummaryThe impact of physical attractiveness and resulting advantages of physical attractive people is a popular research field. Nevertheless, few studies have analysed the relationship between physical attractiveness and sporting performance. To the best of our knowledge this study is the first to investigate the relationship between physical attractiveness of professional (female tennis players and their sporting success in terms of prize money earned and probabilities of winning. Moreover, we can determine further factors which have a significant influence on the prize money earned and the likelihood to win a tennis match. Therefore, we investigate professional female tennis players, which were ranked in the top 100 of the tennis world ranking in one selected week in 2011. OLS regressions demonstrate a significant 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. Further significant drivers are the BMI and its square, the number of played tournaments and the career duration. Furthermore, the study examines whether the probability of winning an individual tennis match is influenced by physical attractiveness. The logit model used shows that the larger the difference in physical attractiveness, the higher the probability of winning for the more attractive tennis player in individual matches. Moreover, difference in world ranking place and difference in the number of years as a professional tennis player have a significant impact on the winning probability.