Hello dear readers, friends, and racket sports enthusiasts.

This month, we’ve packed Racket Business with a massive 22 stories, insights, and trends that every racket sports professional needs to know. From shocking exposés to innovative breakthroughs, there’s something here to challenge, inform, and inspire.

Kicking things off is our headline feature as part of Rich’s ever-popular ‘Publisher’s Notes’: The Big, Brazen 35x35 USTA Hoax.

Their bold goal — aiming for 35 million American tennis players by 2035 — has certainly grabbed Rich’s attention and sparked debate and raised eyebrows. With participation numbers in question and the rapid rise of pickleball reshaping the court landscape, the organization faces a challenge it may not be fully prepared to meet. Is tennis ready for the future the USTA envisions, or is this ambitious target more smoke than substance?

Meanwhile, Will Persson takes a playful yet strategic look at ‘The Best Sport to Ice Someone Out’, comparing the tactical intricacies across tennis, pickleball, padel, and platform tennis.

The newsletter also tackles the backbone of our industry. Gary Horvath examines how ‘College Tennis is Providing the Workforce for the Tennis Industry’, delivering a wake-up call for RSPA and PTR on the talent pipeline. And in ‘In the Trenches: The Vanishing Entry-Level Teaching Pro’, Susan Nardi sounds the alarm on a hidden crisis that could threaten the sport’s growth.

Padel continues to dominate headlines with explosive expansion, innovative technology, and even governance drama. ‘Padel Power Sweeping the World’ covers a multitude of fascinating insights into the game whilst within the expanded padel section we delve into the first-ever SMASH Court which is putting padel at the heart of the creator economy, we examine supply chain hurdles, safety concerns, and the evolution of after-sales services in both the U.S. and U.K. markets.

Pickleball isn’t far behind in terms of momentum. Katie Wellner breaks down ‘The Operational Strain Behind Pickleball’s Rapid Rise’, while our coverage of celebrity-backed leagues and major investment demonstrates how a backyard pastime is turning into big business.

And for those looking to sharpen their skills, this issue is full of practical insights: Rod Heckelman on ‘Energy Preparation for 2026’ and ‘Brain Exercises for Your Tennis Students’, as well as our latest ‘Webinar Watch’ and podcast recommendations, help coaches and operators stay ahead of the curve.

Finally, mark your calendars: the 2026 International Racquets Conference celebrates 50 years of coaching excellence, offering networking, learning, and inspiration for every level of the sport.

From controversy to cutting-edge innovation, workforce insights to player development, this issue has everything racket sports professionals crave.

Finally, 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 December issue, stay curious, and keep swinging forward.

See you courtside,

Rich & Tim (Learn more about us)

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From inside the lines…

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

Multi-Sport Player: Why clubs must follow customers who play more than one racket sport

The profile of today’s racket-sport participant is changing fast. Rather than pledging allegiance to a single game, growing numbers of people identify as explorers: trying tennis, padel, pickleball, and back again. Clubs that treat this as a fad will lose members; clubs that adapt will win lifelong customers. Below we explain the commercial case for chasing the multi-sport player and offer practical priorities for clubs that want to convert variety-seekers into stable revenue.

The trend is real — and big

Participation statistics across the racket family make the point plainly. The ITF reports that “more people are playing tennis than ever before,” with global tennis participation rising to about 106 million: up roughly 25% in five years. At the same time, SFIA confirms pickleball is “the fastest-growing sport” in the U.S., reaching 19.8 million participants in 2024.

Padel, meanwhile, is being built out at speed: multiple industry reports estimate tens of thousands of courts added globally and projections that padel courts will more than double in the next few years.

Commercial implications for clubs

Multi-sport players behave differently. They try new games on weekends, book flexible times, attend taster sessions and expect low barriers to entry. For clubs, that creates both threats and opportunities.

First, the revenue upside is clear: a single consumer who uses three sports across a year spends on memberships, pay-and-play fees, lessons, equipment and social events: often with higher lifetime value than a mono-sport casual.

Second, diversification reduces seasonality risk: when one sport dips (weather, calendar, trends), others can fill courts and income streams.

Third, multi-sport players are referral magnets: people who enjoy variety are more likely to bring friends to try something new.

What clubs must do (commercial checklist)

1. Flexible access and pricing. Offer cross-sport membership tiers, punch passes valid across court types, and family bundles. Making it easy to hop between tennis, pickleball and padel reduces friction, and friction kills trial.

2. Invest in modular courts and scheduling tech. Temporary pickleball lines on tennis courts, convertible padel enclosures and intuitive booking apps increase utilization and reduce capital risk. Playtomic and other market reports show padel growth is happening fastest where courts are accessible and bookable.

3. Taste, convert, retain. Run structured taster sessions, short multi-sport leagues and multi-discipline coaching for beginners. Convert a one-off taster into lessons and social bookings with follow-up offers and onboarding paths.

4. Merch, demo and retailing. Multi-sport players upgrade gear more often: offer demo days, partner with brands, and stock cross-sport equipment. Retail margins and demo partnerships are low-effort revenue boosters.

5. Measure and market to behaviour. Track which members play multiple sports, their booking cadence and lifetime value; use that data to tailor communications and promotions.

Conclusion

The growth in tennis, pickleball and padel isn’t a set of isolated booms: it’s an invitation for clubs to rewire their commercial models around a new kind of customer: the multi-sport player. Clubs that build flexible courts, smart pricing, coordinated programming and tight measurement will not only capture more revenue: they’ll create members who play multiple games for decades. In a market where courts and participation are expanding fast, following your customers isn’t optional. It’s profitable.

^{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.}