Hello dear readers, friends, and racket sports enthusiasts.

Welcome to your new issue of Racket Business — and another packed edition that reflects just how quickly the racket sports landscape continues to evolve.

From tennis and padel to pickleball and racquetball, the industry is entering a period of unprecedented change. Technology is reshaping coaching and performance, investors are discovering the commercial potential of racket sports, governing bodies are exploring new revenue models, and clubs, coaches and operators are being challenged to think differently about how they grow.

This month’s issue brings together some of the most informed voices from across the global racket sports ecosystem — industry leaders, entrepreneurs, analysts and long-standing experts who continue to provide the insight and perspective our readers rely on.

Our publisher Rich Neher opens the issue with his latest observations from the industry, including questions raised around USTA Pacific Northwest and a fascinating week-long dispatch in “The New York Playbook”, exploring the connections between Hudson Yards, West Palm and the future direction of the racket business. Rich also brings his regular industry news round-up, letters, multimedia picks, and his unique view across racquetball, padel and pickleball developments.

Rod Heckelman examines one of the most important challenges facing tennis professionals today in “Do You Know How To Make Money for Someone Else?”, highlighting the need for greater business education, while also exploring the relationship between tennis and real estate value. Gary Horvath continues his mission to advance tennis with a call for stronger industry leadership through a Competitiveness Council.

Elsewhere, this month’s Racket Business analysis looks at the forces driving the next phase of growth. We examine why technology investors are increasingly turning their attention towards racket sports, how AO Ventures is backing the future of sports technology, and why the LTA’s move into venture capital represents a wider shift among governing bodies searching for new opportunities beyond traditional revenue streams. We also take an in-depth look at the ambitious plans for a new Roehampton super hub that could reshape British tennis infrastructure.

With the launch of the new Racket Sports Business Expo approaching, we explore why the industry needs more opportunities for collaboration, innovation and connection — bringing together the businesses, technologies and people shaping the future of the game.

Our padel coverage continues to reflect the explosive growth and growing complexity of the sport. Scott Matulis asks “Why Does Padel Need So Many Apps?”, sharing his experience navigating the digital ecosystem around the world's fastest-growing racket sport, while we look at the Pro Padel League’s landmark first national US television deal and bring you the latest global padel developments.

Pickleball continues its momentum with Rich’s Pickleball Buzz Beyond the Kitchen, while our retail and equipment coverage explores changing consumer behaviour, including women’s growth in racquet sports and the evolving relationship between clubs and custom gear.

The August issue also dives deep into the knowledge, technology and people driving the future of the industry. Rich Neher’s technology column highlights the latest innovations, Gareth Shaw explains how AI-supported coaching from OnCourtAI could transform player development pathways, and Cassandra Toroian shares lessons from across the business world in “Never Stop Learning.”

We also bring you insights from Susan Nardi on talent development, David Pyrzenski’s latest “Building in Public” instalment examining the gap between what clubs ask for and what they truly need, and a thought-provoking look at Arthur Fery’s Wimbledon breakthrough and what it means for the long-running debate around education and elite junior tennis.

Finally, we explore the people and ideas behind the industry’s future including the latest podcasts, newsletters and resources worth following in our Multimedia Picks.

As always, the goal of Racket Business remains simple: to connect the people building the future of racket sports, share the lessons that can help the industry grow, and provide a platform for the voices shaping what comes next.

If you have insights, ideas, or industry experience to share, we invite you to contribute to RacketBusiness — because the conversations that shape our sport start with voices like yours. 👉 Write for RacketBusiness

Enjoy the issue, stay curious, and keep swinging forward.

See you courtside,

Rich & Tim (Learn more about us)

^{P.S. If ever you can’t find Racket Business in your inbox, check your spam folder. And please mark this address as ‘not spam.’ If you’re using Gmail: On mobile, please tap the three dots in the top right and select “move to” and then “primary.” On desktop, please drag this email into your “primary” folder. If you’re using Apple mail: please select our email address and then select “Add to VIPs.” This will ensure you get the email each month.}

From inside the lines…

An exclusive series of short features, only available to newsletter subscribers, from the owner’s of Racket Business. This month…

The AI Question Every Racket Sport Needs to Answer

Artificial intelligence promises to transform coaching, clubs and competition. But before the industry embraces its biggest technological revolution in decades, it should ask a far simpler question: what, exactly, are we trying to replace?

The racket sports industry has never had more opportunities—or more distractions. Participation continues to grow across tennis, padel and pickleball, investment in facilities is increasing in many markets, and a new generation of technology companies are promising to reinvent almost every aspect of the sport. Every week seems to bring another AI-powered platform that claims it can transform coaching, automate club management, personalise player development or revolutionise the customer experience.

Some of those promises will undoubtedly be fulfilled. Others will quietly disappear as the hype subsides. But amid the excitement surrounding artificial intelligence, the industry risks asking the wrong question.

Whether AI will disrupt racket sports is scarcely in doubt. It almost certainly will. The more interesting question is where that disruption ends—and where the essential value of sport begins.

Unlike previous innovations, AI is not simply another product or piece of software. It is a capability that can influence almost every part of the racket sports ecosystem, from scheduling and marketing to performance analysis, officiating and business intelligence. It is easy to see why club operators, coaches, governing bodies and investors are paying close attention.

Yet the more AI advances, the clearer it becomes that its greatest strength lies not in replacing the sport itself, but in removing the countless layers of administration, inefficiency and routine that surround it.

That distinction matters.

One of the most insightful observations about artificial intelligence has come not from the technology sector but from sport. Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit and an increasingly influential sports investor, has argued that as AI floods the internet with limitless synthetic content, authentic live experiences become even more valuable. In a world where almost anything digital can be generated, genuine human competition becomes one of the few experiences that cannot.

That feels particularly relevant for racket sports.

The value of tennis, padel, squash and pickleball has never rested in booking systems, coaching software or performance dashboards. Those things matter, but only because they help people reach the court more easily. The real product has always been the physical experience itself: the challenge of competition, the satisfaction of improvement, the friendships formed around clubs and leagues, and the simple pleasure of spending two hours away from screens with a racket in hand.

Artificial intelligence may become exceptionally good at analysing those moments, predicting them and helping coaches create more of them. But it cannot experience the exhilaration of a perfectly struck passing shot, the tension of a deciding-set tie-break or the quiet satisfaction of walking off court knowing you've played better than you did last week.

Those experiences remain stubbornly—and wonderfully—human.

This is why much of the current debate risks missing the point. Too often the conversation focuses on whether AI can perform individual tasks that were previously completed by people. Increasingly, the answer is yes. AI can already produce marketing campaigns, answer customer enquiries, generate lesson plans, analyse biomechanics and identify tactical patterns with remarkable speed.

For many organisations, that should be welcomed rather than feared.

Few club managers entered the industry because they enjoyed answering repetitive emails or updating membership databases. Coaches rarely chose their profession because they wanted to spend evenings writing session plans or producing social media content. Governing bodies exist to grow participation and develop the sport—not to create endless reports.

If artificial intelligence removes much of that administrative burden, it creates something far more valuable than efficiency.

It creates time.

Time for coaches to coach rather than type. Time for club managers to engage with members instead of spreadsheets. Time for governing bodies to focus on participation rather than paperwork. In an industry where people are often stretched across multiple roles, that may prove to be AI's greatest contribution.

Satya Nadella, Microsoft's Chairman and CEO, has described AI as "the new electricity"—a technology that will become embedded in every industry rather than existing as a standalone innovation. History suggests he may be right. Electricity did not replace factories; it transformed how they operated. The internet did not replace retail; it reshaped how customers bought products. Artificial intelligence is likely to follow a similar path.

The winners will not necessarily be those with the cleverest algorithms. They will be the organisations that use AI to strengthen fundamentally human businesses.

That is especially true in racket sports because the industry's core product is remarkably resistant to automation.

People do not join a tennis club because its booking software is exceptional. Parents do not choose a coach because lesson plans are generated in seconds. Fans do not travel across the world to watch Wimbledon because its operational systems are efficient.

They participate because racket sports satisfy something technology never can: the desire to compete, to improve, to belong and to connect with other people through physical activity.

The Oxford philosopher and AI researcher Nick Bostrom has argued that technology amplifies human capability rather than replacing human purpose. That distinction feels particularly important here. The purpose of racket sports has never been administration, scheduling or reporting. Those are simply mechanisms that support the real product: meaningful experiences shared between people.

Ironically, AI may strengthen that proposition rather than weaken it.

As more of our working lives become mediated through algorithms, automation and digital assistants, authentic physical experiences become increasingly valuable. We already spend unprecedented amounts of time behind screens. The opportunity to switch off, move, compete and interact face-to-face is becoming a luxury rather than a routine.

That helps explain why participation in racket sports continues to grow in many markets despite the explosion of digital entertainment. Far from competing with artificial intelligence, racket sports may become one of its natural counterbalances. The more our professional lives are shaped by AI, the more we may value activities that remind us what it means to be human.

None of this suggests the industry should become complacent.

The greatest risk is not that AI will replace clubs, coaches or governing bodies. It is that competitors will use it to become faster, smarter and more responsive while others continue relying on yesterday's processes. Every technological shift creates competitive advantage before it becomes standard practice. The organisations that embrace AI thoughtfully—using it to improve service, personalise communication and remove friction—are likely to outperform those that ignore it.

The future, then, is unlikely to be a contest between humans and machines.

It will belong to organisations that understand the strengths of both.

Artificial intelligence is exceptionally good at processing information, recognising patterns and eliminating repetitive work. Human beings remain unmatched at building trust, inspiring confidence, exercising judgement and creating communities. The most successful businesses in racket sports will recognise that these capabilities are complementary, not competing.

Every technology boom eventually reaches the same point. The exaggerated promises fade, the genuinely useful innovations become part of everyday life and people stop talking about the technology itself.

Artificial intelligence will almost certainly follow the same path.

When it does, the clubs, businesses and governing bodies that thrive will probably be those that remembered a simple truth. They were never really in the technology business.

They were always in the experience business.

And while artificial intelligence may change almost everything about how that experience is delivered, organised and enhanced, it cannot replace the simple pleasure of picking up a racket, walking onto court and sharing a game with another human being.

For an industry built on movement, competition and connection, that remains its greatest competitive advantage—and one that no algorithm is ever likely to take away.

_{Please note that all of our content is created by human professionals. While we utilize Generative AI technology to assist in correcting syntax and grammar, our articles are written entirely by our team of experts. We value the expertise and creativity of our human writers in delivering high-quality content to our readers.}