Racket Business - Publisher's Notes for May 2025

Hello, dear readers, friends, and racquet sports enthusiasts.

First, an apology. I had great difficulties finishing all the April articles when my laptop gave up during RacquetX, and I couldn’t find a repair shop in Florida or Germany since we were moving around so much. Hence, some of the usual articles, such as PODCASTS and TECH, were left out last month.

Upon my return to Los Angeles, my trusted PC repairman was unable to revive the laptop, and it went to electronics recycling. Back at my desktop and coughing away all day long with the “mother of all colds” that was actually diagnosed as Pneumonia, things are normalizing again. Thank God!

Germany was cold, but nonetheless great. We visited Mainz (my hometown), Leipzig, Berlin, Dresden, and finished the trip in the Black Forest. The highlight for me: Visiting Karsten Weigelt at “Tennis Club 1899 e.V. Blau-Weiss Berlin.” Read more about this visit in my article here.

I hope you like the jam-packed May issue and get some ideas for your business.

Rich Neher

Table of Contents

• From Atlanta to the Rest of the Country, New organ …

• HEAD Penn reacts to Trump Tariffs

• Things That Make Me Go hmmm…

• Shout-Outs + One Funny Tweet

American Racket Sports Association (ARA)

Last month, I had the pleasure of speaking with one of the most distinguished movers and shakers in Atlanta’s tennis world: Shaun Boyce. I had seen a press release that his company, GoTennis! had acquired the Georgia Professional Tennis Association (GPTA) and renamed it the American Racket Sports Association.

Shaun explained that the American Racket Sports Association is now actively recruiting new members for professional networking around the country. He is using the acronym “ARA” instead of arsa for obvious reasons and added, “We do not compete with but work directly or indirectly with larger organizations such as the USTA, RSPA, and PTR, ALTA, and T2 Tennis.”

Shaun expects to use Georgia as a model for how other states or locales can operate by scheduling in-person events, online Zoom call-style webinars, forums, town halls, and any other interesting networking ideas the membership implements.

“We offer memberships for coaches, small businesses, facilities, and institutions. Our individual level membership comes with a complimentary GoTennis! Pro Membership where coach types can take advantage of bulk purchasing options, discounts on equipment, make money with affiliate sales, and more.”

I wish Shaun and his organization all the best, and I’m sure we will hear from them again soon.

Here’s how you can connect with Shaun Boyce:

[email protected]

HEAD Penn Tariff Update

HEAD Penn Racquet Sports sent out the announcement to all retail partners: “Based on the latest round of tariff increases announced April 2, we unfortunately are put in a situation where we need to implement a tariff surcharge on all Racquet Sports shipments.”

Effective Monday, May, 5, 2025 the below tariff surcharges will be applied:
HEAD: 10% (footwear exempt)
Penn: 5%

It continued, “While this only represents a small portion of the financial impact we have felt and continue to feel, we understand that there is a delicate balance to maintain so as to not significantly impact sales.

This surcharge will be applied as a separate line item on all Racquet Sports invoices and will impact all current and future orders (bookings included). “

USTA Raises the Stakes in the Coaching Education Game:
Parkkonen and Stockwell Jump Ship

First, we heard that PTR COO Brian Parkkonen left his job and joined the USTA. A few days later, a new name made the rounds, and this time it affected the RSPA: Chief Service Officer Jim Stockwell also jumped ship. Weird? You bet it is!

What do we know besides the fact that I know both to be nice guys and went to work for the Coaches’ Education arm of the USTA?

Questions related to Brian Parkkonen:

Why didn’t he follow Santorum to RPO?
Was he easy pickings for the USTA “poachers” in Coaches Education Planning?
Did he have a falling out with PTR Chair Lynne Rolley or with CEO Peter Hurley?
Was he paid enough money to keep him at the PTR?

Questions related to Jim Stockwell:

What happened? He was promoted with lots of fanfare 7 months ago.
Did he have a falling out with Brian Dillman?
What happened to his plans announced in the October 17, 2024 press release?
Was he paid enough money to keep him at the RSPA?

And then there are questions for the USTA:

Is this the beginning of a plan to poach the best people from PTR and RSPA and weaken those organizations?

My take:

Neither the PTR nor the RSPA is a cash-rich organization. According to their filed 990s from 2023, the PTR comes in at under $3M in annual revenue, and the RSPA at under $5M. Hence, their ability to pay their executives generously is at most limited. Compare that to the USTA, where few of the executives are being paid less than half a million dollars a year, and many are closer to a million.

A Master Pro friend of mine remarked just recently: “RSPA is hiring a person dedicated to International members. So does that mean that they have control of things domestically? Does it mean USTA is taking over certification, and they need foreign members to stay afloat?” Questions over questions. I’m sure Brian Dillman knows what he’s doing.

I predict that the USTA is in the process of raising the stakes in their master plan to eliminate both organizations and take full control of coaches’ education and certification. I bet every time they look at the world’s largest tennis NGB (Germany’s DTB) and observe their total control over and revenue from tennis coaches, they get really envious and jealous. When you pay million-dollar salaries plus perks, have quite the ambitious expansion plans for the US Open, and need to be able to afford the “money pit” National Campus, you are always in need of more cash.

I had our friend, The Commish, chime in on that topic. Here is their tongue-in-cheek reply:

“Raised the stakes? Are they playing with pennies or counterfeit monopoly money?  Or is this a game of truth or dare where you have to keep your clothes on?

Are you inferring that USTA is the winner in this deal?  If the USTA had its act together, it might have been able to get Shadeur Sanders thrown in for good measure.

This is sad and comical, although I am not sure which part is comical.

Neither PTA nor PTR have really stood up for the pros the way they should have (sad).  For that reason, the pros deserve to be taken over (sad).  

The sad thing is, they will be taken over by a group of people who are less knowledgeable about the industry than they are.  Kind of like being taken over by Pipefitters Local 208.”

May 10 is National “Hit to be Fit Day”

Not sure what to think of that day. Seems to be designed to promote Red Ball (“our answer to pickleball”) and Cardio Triples. I don’t know anyone in Southern California who plays Red Ball, and I haven’t seen one adult tennis player who likes to give up their doubles match for a game of Triples.
Don’t want to jinx it, but I’m not very bullish on May 10.

More Colleges dropping their tennis programs

The article was dated the end of January, but only now made it onto my desk. Aquinas College, Cornerstone University to eliminate tennis teams after 2024-25 season. But that was only the beginning. On April 25, the Pro Football & Sports Network of all publications posted an alarming article: USTA, ITA Under Fire As Rapid Cancellation of College Tennis NCAA Programs Continues Amid Dallas Baptist University Reports. University of San Francisco, Lake Superior State University (LSSU), University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). James McKie, Director of Player Relations for UTR Sports is quoted in the same article posting on X: “This is about the 25th tennis program GONE since January.”

What is going on, people? When are USTA and ITA waking up? Do they have a plan? Don’t they know that college tennis is the prime labor market for teaching pros? Do they care?

Letter from The Commish

Rich,

After the ITA announced they were in bed with the World Tennis Number (WTN) a while back, UTR announces on page 13 of the latest Racquet Sports Industry Magazine, that they have new college rankings.  Hmmm, why is UTR hanging in there?  Is WTN really that bad?

The Commish
Everywhere, USA
Pronouns: They/Them

(Reminder for our new readers: The Commish is not just one single person; it is a real and true thought experiment of many different entities. That's also why the Commish has no preferred pronouns, and you can call the Commish anything and anyway you want. Makes no difference to the Commish. The Commish lives in the minds of all tennis professionals, tennis players, tennis organizers, and everyone with a clear and logical thought process.)

Ukrainian tennis player Lesia Tsurenko files lawsuit against WTA Tour over Russian invasion

The article in The Athletic made me shake my head in disbelief. It states that “Tsurenko, who is the sole plaintiff, alleges that a series of interactions regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with WTA Tour executives and with Steve Simon, who was its chief executive when the alleged offences took place, led to her suffering from “bouts of insomnia” and “crying episodes.”

I don’t know what to think of that. The WTA’s lawyer described the lawsuit as “legally defective.” I predict it’s not going anywhere.

Bogus USTA Financials?

The Sports Business Journal reported, “USTA financials show US Open revenues up again and stated, 'Operating revenues associated with the 2024 U.S. Open rose 9% year-over-year from $514.1M to $559.7M, according to financial statements recently published by the USTA.’

Well, you know me, haha. I have almost no reason to believe those numbers. Based on their history of disseminating bogus participation data year after year, I must assume the same happens with their financials: creative bookkeeping. Make the numbers as high as possible so advertisers and sponsors don’t flee. Especially ESPN, the single highest source of sponsor revenue for the USTA.

Big Shout-Out to Matt Pressman and his team at FLORIDA TENNIS magazine for creating such an outstanding publication month after month.

Big Shout-Outs to Mike Barrell, Executive Director of Tennis for Sportime New York, and Karsten Weigelt, Performance and Bundesliga Coach at Tennis-Club e.V. Blau-Weiss Berlin, for showing me their marvellous clubs and sharing so much interesting information with me.

Big Shout-Out to Tennis Coach, Author, and Speaker Susan Nardi for being the most helpful, sharing, knowledgeable, and friendly professional.

One Funny Tweet