It is not unknown for Arina Rodionova to flirt with alternative career options.
Never slow to speak out when occasion demands, the Australian tennis player memorably declared herself to be ’embarrassed’ by her profession when some of her peers baulked at the prospect of a fortnight’s Covid quarantine before the 2021 Australian Open.
‘If anyone asks, I am a full-time gardener and a cleaner on the weekends,’ she quipped on social media.
Rodionova resisted the temptation to swap her racket for a rake and a mop on that occasion but, four years on, the world No 183 appears to have discovered an equally unlikely new calling – as an Only Fans creator.
Following her defeat to Germany’s Eva Lys in the second round of the Australian Open qualifying competition last month, Rodionova revealed that she was launching a page on the adult-only online subscription platform.
‘Good news for everyone who was asking,’ said the 35-year-old. ‘My OnlyFans account was confirmed, so here we go. Let’s do this.’
As the tennis world averted its gaze, the profile of a player who last made headlines a year ago, when she became the oldest woman in WTA rankings history to break the top 100 for the first time, soared to a degree rarely enjoyed by players outside the upper echelons of the game.
Yet Rodionova, who was born in the Russian region of Tambov, about 300 miles south-east of Moscow, and acquired Australian citizenship in January 2014, was not done.
Arina Rodionova, a Russia-born Australian tennis player ranked 183 in the world, has joined adults-only subscription platform OnlyFans
Rodionova, 35, right and her husband Ty Vickery, 34, announced their divorce in an Instagram video last week, following nine years of marriage
Speaking to her 25,000 social media followers, Rodionova said: ‘Friends and family know but we just wanted to let the wider community know about this situation’
Barely had her followers digested news of her latest venture before she dropped a second bombshell, announcing that her marriage to Ty Vickery, the former Australian rules footballer with whom she tied the knot in December 2015, was at an end.
If nothing else, Rodionova’s revelation that the couple have been separated for ‘about a year’ cast some of her more recent social media posts in a fresh light.
Last November, the 35-year-old enjoyed an off-season trip to the Maldives, where her travel companions included Daria Kasatkina, the Russian world No 11, and her partner Natalia Zabiiako, a professional figure skater.
In one video montage, Rodionova was variously shown running along the beach in a bikini, twerking by a pool, and discarding her top before diving into the sea.
Looking ahead to her new side gig, Rodionova promised to ‘start posting my bikini pictures from the Maldives.. on my OnlyFans account, of course’.
Rodionova is far from unique among professional athletes – or tennis players – in adopting a presence on OnlyFans. Ashley Harkelroad, a former world No 39, briefly joined the site in 2022, while another American, 195th-ranked Sachia Vickery, signed up earlier this month.
Among the men, former Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios has a free-to-access OnlyFans page, created just over a year ago as a new way to ‘show up online’ and interact with his followers, while Alexandre Muller, a 27-year-old Frenchman ranked 57 in the world, also shares content on the site.
Other high-profile athletes who use the platform include Olympians such as Jack Laugher, Britain’s first ever gold-medal winning diver, and Alysha Newman, the Canadian pole vaulter. Former UFC star Paige VanZant has her own account, as does the footballer Madelene Wright.
Rodionova’s decision to join OnlyFans has seen the world No 183’s profile soar to a degree rarely enjoyed by players outside the upper echelons of the game
In the weeks preceding her divorce announcement, Rodionova posted a number of pictures from her off-season holiday to the Maldives with Daria Kasatkina and Natalia Zabiiako
While Rodionova has yet to reveal her exact reasons for joining the site, most sportspeople are motivated by the opportunity to supplement their income. That they should need to do so is, says Mark Borkowski, the crisis PR consultant and author, an indictment of the way many sports are run – and ‘smart business’ on the part of the athletes concerned.
‘Arina Rodionova jumping on the OnlyFans bandwagon is just another sign of the times – a stark reminder that professional sport, for all its glitz, still doesn’t offer a viable financial model for many athletes,’ said Borkowski.
‘Let’s be real: tennis is a punishing career path unless you’re cracking the top tier, and the sponsorship money isn’t exactly pouring in for those grinding away on the fringes.
‘So why wouldn’t athletes look elsewhere to monetise their brand? OnlyFans has shed its early scandalous sheen and evolved into a creator economy platform where sports stars can engage their audience directly – and, crucially, get paid for it without waiting for a tournament cheque or a reluctant corporate sponsor.
‘In that sense, it’s smart business.’
It is also in harmony with the founding premise of OnlyFans, whose creator Tim Stokely, a British entrepreneur, originally envisaged the site as a space in which influencers could post exclusive content in return for a monthly subscription fee.
While the site’s business model made it increasingly synonymous with explicit content once an initial ban on explicit content was lifted, it has started to shake off the attendant stigma in recent years.
While there is no shortage of explicit content on the platform, it is also acquiring a growing reputation as a legitimate form of social media. It is an image the site is eager to lean into.
Vickery, right, is seen embracing Rodionova following her narrow failure to navigate the final round of qualifying for the 2016 Australian Open, where she was beaten by Viktorija Golubic
‘No, I shouldn’t spend more time on the tennis court instead, thank you though’: This snap from Rodionova’s November trip to the Maldives was accompanied by some typically witty asides
‘Professional athletes from around the world are choosing to join OnlyFans to monetise their content, grow their online presence and engage with fans,’ said a spokesperson for the site.
‘For many, funding a career in sport can be hard, but OnlyFans is helping them to support training and living costs, giving them the tools for success on and off the field, court or ring.
‘In today’s world, the progression from athlete to content creator is a natural one, with our community sharing everything from practice sessions and coaching tips to behind-the-scenes from their daily lives.
‘Fans want to get to know the real people behind their favourite sports stars, and OnlyFans gives them that opportunity.’
Is there is a lingering risk of reputational damage for the likes of Rodionova? Yes, says Borkowski, but it owes more to entrenched conservatism and double standards than any fault on the part of athletes seeking a way to get by.
‘Of course, the pearl-clutching brigade will wring their hands over “respectability,” and there’s always the risk of reputational blowback – especially for female athletes, who still have to navigate the outdated morality clauses of a sporting world that claims to be progressive but remains deeply conservative,’ said Borkowski.
‘Some sponsors might hesitate, but culture is shifting fast. The real scandal isn’t that athletes are turning to OnlyFans – it’s that they have to in the first place.’
The nature of the content athletes offer varies, but most are careful to strike a balance between making the most of a lucrative side-hustle and retaining their mainstream appeal, lest potential sponsors should be deterred.
Kyrgios and Muller, for example, use the site only to talk tennis or offer a more detailed glimpse into their lives.
‘OnlyFans is a social media like any other,’ said Muller, who is sponsored by the platform, at a press conference in Rome last year. ‘I post about tennis and my life. I don’t post anything explicit as people would expect, I only talk about tennis.
‘Everyone knows OnlyFans as an erotic themed website, but that’s not the case for me. I was told I couldn’t have the OnlyFans logo on my shirt any more, so I needed something to help me advertise my new sponsor.’
A monthly subscription to Rodionova’s OnlyFans page, in which she bills herself as ‘a tennis player but a fun one’, costs $10 (about £8), 20% of which goes to the platform.
While the site does not show how many followers an account has, one early post by the former Australian Open girls’ doubles champion attracted 167 likes, confirming that she has at least that many followers.
Given that Rodionova has almost 32,000 followers on Instagram, where her bio includes a link to her OnlyFans page, the potential for success is clear.
Former Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios is among male tennis stars who have signed up to OnlyFans to share content with fans
Rodionova celebrates after defeating former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin at the Brisbane International last year
Some will inevitably question why a player who has amassed roughly £3 million in career earnings should need an alternative revenue stream.
Yet that is to reckon without the extraordinary financial demands of life as a professional tennis player, particularly lower down the rankings ladder.
A year-round sport that necessitates constant travel rarely smiles on those unable to afford the services of a coach, physio and physical trainer. But few outside the upper echelons of the game can afford such luxuries.
A decent coach alone can cost as much as £80,000 a year, with medical and fitness costs likewise running into the tens of thousands. That is before the cost of travel and taxes is factored in.
The issue is exacerbated by the relatively modest prize money available to those lower down the food chain.
While Madison Keys banked approximately £1.7 million for defeating Aryna Sabalenka to win the first grand slam of her career last weekend, Rodionova’s run to round two of the qualifying event earned her a relatively modest £25,000.
‘Rodionova isn’t just making a financial play; she’s holding up a mirror to an industry that still doesn’t know how to properly fund its own talent,’ said Borkowski. ‘That’s the real story.’
Nor should the potential vicissitudes of a career in which a player is only ever a serious injury away from financial hardship be overlooked.
In 2022, Rodionova suffered a wrist injury that sidelined her for eight months and sent her ranking plummeting to 300 in the world. She responded quite brilliantly, notching up 79 match wins the following season and claiming seven ITF singles titles, but it was an experience that underlined the ephemeral nature of life as a tennis player.
Small wonder, then, that Rodionova, like so many athletes, should have turned to other sources of income. As VanZant has explained, the money generated by posting content on social media can far outweigh the rewards available professionally.
‘OnlyFans has definitely been my largest source of income, I would say combined, in my fighting career,’ said VanZant. ‘I think I made more money in 24 hours on OnlyFans than I had in my entire fighting career. Combined.’
Rodionova, who has never reached the third round of a grand slam singles event but reached a career-high doubles ranking of 41 in 2015 – she is a former Australian Open quarter-finalist in both the women’s and mixed doubles – may well be arriving at a similar realisation.
A naturally entertaining and gregarious character, she was clearly at ease during a guest appearance on Kasatkina’s hit YouTube vlog last year, where she described a fan’s comment that she would earn more from OnlyFans than tennis as ‘The best compliment I’ve got this year’.
Rodionova’s quirky humour was similarly evident after her notable win over Sofia Kenin in Brisbane last year. Thanking the crowd for their support during her straight-sets victory over the former Australian Open champion, she paused before adding: ‘If you think I’m going to share my prize money with you, it’s not happening.’
It would seem she is now prepared to share considerably more.
