Internet giant, Amazon, is expanding its reach in the sports streaming industry by investing in Universal Tennis (UTR).

US Amazon subscribers can expect to see the UTR Pro Tennis Tour (PTT) streamed on their Amazon Prime services at no additional costs, with a specialised UTR PTT channel also being unveiled in the coming months.

Amazon’s tennis portfolio currently includes agreements with famous tour stops and associations like the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), the Australian open, and the French open.

Amazon and Universal Tennis aim to drive the sport’s innovation via investment and the addition of Amazon’s senior vice president of global media and entertainment, Jeff Blackburn, to Universal Tennis’ board of directors.

Amazon vice president of global sports video, Marie Donoghue, said UTR’s strive for innovation is an exciting opportunity for Amazon.

“[Amazon] look forward to teaming up with Universal Tennis to bring positive change for the sport through a number of bold initiatives, including streaming PTT matches on Prime Video,” Donoghue said.

Universal Tennis chairmen and chief executive, Mark Leschly, said the organisation is excited to have the sport streamed to Amazon’s prime services.

“We look forward to bring the PTT onto the service and pursuing other new initiatives in content, analytics, and insights to expand and engage the global tennis audience,” Leschly said.

Amazon is not Universal Tennis’ first investor, with UTR fostering relationships with multiple high-stake investors and partnerships such as Endeavor, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, Tennis Channel and Tennis Australia.

Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer are also UTR investors.

UTR launched the PTT in 2021 and has since held 185 events and 10 000 matches across 15 countries.

The tour was established via universal tennis’ investment of USD $20 million (AUD $27.8 million) and was designed to support global tennis and to create more opportunities for aspiring professional players via increased prize money, venue support, technology, logistics and competitive playing opportunities.

The UTR PTT has events upcoming in Spain on the 27^th of this month.