Racket Sports Industry News April 2026

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Author

Rich Neher
April 24, 2026

Table of Contents

WRAPPING UP THE DCA RETREAT

Like every year, the Directors of Racquet Clubs Retreat was big, beautiful, and impactful.

Many participants have chimed in, and we have wrapped it all up in one page with Brock Orlowski’s feature article and a bunch of comments from all over the country. All good stuff, real LinkedIn Gold!

RACKET BUSINESS CALENDAR OF EVENTS


Your One-Stop Event Resource for Racquet Sports

The top Racket Business menu includes the Events button. We encourage our readers to use this button as a helpful resource when planning for education, travel, and networking.

At the top of the page, we also list training courses and certification workshops for tennis, pickleball, padel, platform tennis, and cardio tennis.

MISITRANO CONSULTING: RACKET SPORTS BRIEFING


RACKET SPORTS BRIEFING

  • 'Sport of the future'? Padel's Miami boom augurs US expansion
    Read more

  • WTA Finals ‘to leave’ Saudi Arabia after 2026, Charlotte emerges as host option
    Read more

  • Houston's Astros-Backed Pickleball Bar Solarium Closes
    Read more

  • Worth a Listen: ATP Record Broken
    Listen on Spotify

Sign up here to receive the Racket Sports Briefing directly in your inbox.

SHORT ODDS & ENDS

===> Putterman Athletics

  • Explore Clay Court Accessories
    Read more

  • Lead-Free Windscreens:
    Explore Windscreen Options
    Read more

===> Sports Business Journal

Whoop raises $575M Series G a $10.1B valuation
Read more

===> Daily Playbook / Forbes

  • The $2.6B deal transfers North America's largest private golf course owner from Apollo Global Management, a massive asset manager, to leisure-focused KSL. 

  • KSL will merge Invited's 125 properties with its existing Heritage Golf Group, combining forces to create a dominant 172-course nationwide portfolio. 

  • The major acquisition capitalizes on a historic pandemic-fueled industry boom that drove a record 48.1M Americans to play golf last year.

===> HEAD - Play Summer In Style

Built for Summer Matches
New HEAD Apparel built for warm days on and off court.
Explore the collection

===> USTA Florida

  • USTA Florida Celebrates $120,600 Court Renovation at Fort Walton Beach Tennis Center
    Read more

  • FGCU, USTA partner for tennis facility improvements
    Read more

===> Wilson Sporting Goods

Blade V10: Turn Pressure into Punishment

Meet the new Wilson Blade V10—our most aggressive Blade yet, engineered for high-speed stability, laser-like control and confident feel.
Read more

===> Sporting Goods Intelligence Europe

Tennis, padel and pickleball in 2026: participation data, numbers and trends

Global data on 2024–25 participation levels in the Racquest Sports category show shifting player priorities and motivations. Player crossover is real, with the numbers showing it may no longer be effective to consider the three core sports in isolation.
Read more

===> Sports Business Journal

Youth sports streaming is now a $10 billion business

For generations, youth sports athletes were lucky to have a family member or coaching assistant bring a camcorder to their sporting events to preserve their memories on VHS or memory cards. But at high school, club and youth competitions these days, you’re likely to find an AI-powered camera and any number of handheld smartphones recording multiple angles, often sharing the footage live through an app or on YouTube.
Read more

Ed Shanaphy: What Today’s Clubs Are Forgetting About Hospitality.

At Jupiter Island Club, there was a match you didn’t get invited to—you earned it. Three tennis professionals and one member. Doubles on the court in all-white tennis attire, closest to the pro shop where other members could pull up a chair and watch in the mid-day sun.

RSPA: THE STORY OF STEVE KAPPES

What Happens to Your Life When You Turn Racquet Sports into Your Career?

Meet Steve Kappes, a seasoned tennis professional and executive director for the RSPA San Diego division who served in the U.S. Navy for more than 20 years. But discipline alone wasn’t what kept him grounded. It was tennis.

He fell in love with tennis early on, teaching himself the game and watching every match he could find on television. During his Navy career, Steve would introduce himself at local tennis facilities as a player. It was his way of finding people and building community anywhere he went. All it took was a racquet and a willingness to step onto the court. 

After retirement, Steve faced the same question that many people do:

How do I turn passion into something lasting? And in his search for an answer, he found the Racquet Sports Professionals Association.

“After I got certified, I knew there might be multiple avenues to pursue.”

Jarrett Chirico: Welcome, Angel Lopez.
The Directors Club is incredibly excited to announce the arrival of Angel Lopez, Director of Tennis at the San Diego Tennis & Racquet Club, into our family of Leaders!

To say this is a noteworthy addition would be an understatement. Angel Lopez has built a career defined by vision, precision, and an unrelenting commitment to elevating every organization he touches.

Over the years, he has become synonymous with operational mastery and inspired leadership, guiding one of the nation’s most respected racquet clubs with both strategic brilliance and genuine heart. Under his stewardship, the San Diego Tennis & Racquet Club has not merely maintained its reputation, it has evolved, setting new standards for member experience, program innovation, and organizational culture.