Racket Sports Tech for September 2025

Table of Contents

• Ashley’s Tech Blog

  • Building Club Culture That Keeps Players Coming Ba …

• Baseline Vision News as of August 12, 2025

• CourtReserve News as of August 20, 2025

• Ruley the E-Referee launched in July

• Noteworthy

  • USTA Ventures, WTA Ventures, BallerTV, ITF,

  • Weebora Padel Tourism. HEAD Boom NEON, tennishead, …

Building Club Culture That Keeps Players Coming Back

Courts and schedules matter, but they’re not what players remember. What sticks is the way a place makes them feel. 

A racquet club succeeds when it becomes more than just a facility — when it becomes a community.

Ashley Owens, from a recent LA city club visit, said it best:

“If you hire the right people and empower them in the right culture, the player wins.”

Here’s what that looks like in real life — and how the right systems can help you get there.

It Starts with the Team

There’s no one person who makes a club run. It takes a full team that cares — not just about doing tasks, but about creating the kind of place people want to be.

A place that:

• Feels welcoming,

• Runs smoothly, and

• Makes every player feel like they belong.

When your staff support each other, your players feel it. That’s what makes someone invite their friends or bring their kids. That’s what builds true community.

The Club Down the Road Isn’t the Enemy

Your local competitors shouldn’t be your enemies. When clubs raise the bar together—offering better service, smarter tools, and stronger communities—everyone wins.

Higher standards across the board help:

• Keep players in the sport,

• Grow memberships in your area, and

• Attract new talent into coaching and staff roles.

Working together raises the tide for every club, not just one.

Use Tech to Give Time Back to Staff

Here’s where technology plays its part. It’s not about flashy features or complicated dashboards—it’s about saving your staff time so they can focus on people.

A good platform:

• Takes care of tedious tasks like check-ins, payments, and notifications.

• Frees up your team to greet players, run events, and answer questions.

• Helps track the things that matter—like who’s showing up, who’s dropping off, and how full your courts are.

When you remove the friction, your staff gets to focus on building a concierge-style culture—the kind that keeps players coming back, not just for pickleball, but for the experience.

Build a Culture Players Talk About

Players may come for the courts, but they stay for the atmosphere.

• The club that remembers their name.

• The coach who checks in after a lesson.

• The front desk that actually has time to say “welcome back.”

This isn’t just customer service — it’s club culture. And it’s the future of the sport.

Want to Build That Kind of Club?

Then start with people. Empower your team. Use tools that give them time back, not more work. When your team has the bandwidth to care, your club becomes more than a place to play—it becomes a place to belong.

CourtReserve helps clubs automate the busywork so staff can focus on what matters: players, culture, and connection.
👉 Explore more at CourtReserve.com

• On Tour Through Germany With Mischa Zverev

• UTR Pro Tennis Tour - The Show Continues

• How Top Coaches Train With Baseline

• Spotlight: Glynlyon Tennis Club, Pequot Lakes, Minnesota

From calling lines at UTR Pro Tennis Tour events to training sessions at your local court, we’ve seen Baseline used in all kinds of ways this month.

On Tour Through Germany With Mischa Zverev

UTR Pro Tennis Tour - The Show Continues

Over the coming few months, you'll continue to see Baseline at over dozens of UTR Sports​​ Pro Tennis Tour tournaments around the globe.

How Top Coaches Train With Baseline

See how the team at Lubrano Tennis Academy helps players improve their serve consistency and speed. Instagram VIDEO.

Spotlight: Glynlyon Tennis Club, Pequot Lakes, Minnesota

Glynlyon Tennis Club​ is a family-friendly indoor tennis hub focused on growth, fun, and community.

Head Coach Meredith Campbell leads a wide range of programs, including private and group lessons, match play with coaching, and tennis-specific fitness classes designed for youth, teens, and adults of all levels.

GTC is also known for its one-of-a-kind blacklight tennis setup. With a flip of a switch, the court transforms into a glowing UV arena, complete with fluorescent balls, music, and energy.

And on Sundays? It’s all about match play, powered by Baseline. Players get instant pro-level stats, and coaches use the data to fine-tune future training. It’s a powerful way to help athletes track their progress and showcase their skills. Here’s what the GTC team had to say about Baseline: "Coach Dan has affectionately named it 'Coach Gizmo'. It! Is! AWESOME!!

The Baseline Vision Team Send us an email | Book a call

Player Experience 
Spice Up Your Player Portal

Train. Connect. Grow

Events & Trade Shows
Meet CourtReserve

Rich spoke with Cassandra Toroian, Co-Founder & CEO of the new app Ruley, last month. Cassandra played tennis since the age of 4 years and became a D1 college player at Lafayette in Easton, PA.

Here’s the Ruley press release from July 24.

“The Google of Sports Rules” Ruley Launches to Bring Instant Rule Clarity and Encourage Better Sportsmanship to Every Game

AI-powered app ecosystem eliminates confusion and disputes in sports, starting with pickleball, padel, tennis (including a new, niche sport, INTENNSE), and beyond

A game-changing new category of sports app is stepping onto courts and fields. Ruley, the E-Referee, the first-of-its-kind AI-powered mobile app sports rules assistant, officially launched July 24.

Confusion over the rules is one of the biggest barriers in sports. From heated on-court disputes to new players feeling too intimidated to even get started, unclear or inconsistent rule knowledge can disrupt games, discourage participation, and diminish the spirit of play. That is where Ruley comes in with a bold mission: to eliminate confusion and disputes in sports by delivering instant, situation-based rule guidance when players need it most––and during an era when dispute tensions continue to rise in sports globally, among players, parents, and spectators, too.

Whether it’s a fast-growing sport like pickleball, a traditional match of tennis, or a new sport like padel, Ruley helps players resolve rule questions in seconds using dynamic, context-aware proprietary technology. Designed for both newcomers and seasoned players, Ruley is making sports more fair, fun, and frictionless across all levels of play. Currently, Ruley offers iOS and Android mobile app versions for pickleball, padel, and tennis (which includes the rules for INTENNSE, the new pro team tennis league), and it will soon be launching golf and backyard games such as cornhole and darts. Ruley’s proprietary technology will also soon be available via license to integrate into a myriad of other sports websites and apps using its API and widgets.

“Confusion over the rules shouldn’t ruin the game,” said Ruley Co-founder and CEO, Cassandra Toroian. “We created Ruley to keep the focus where it belongs, which is on the game, not the argument. Our technology prioritizes sportsmanship and brings real-time clarity to the field, court, or course, making sports more accessible and enjoyable for everyone.”

Making Sports Fair, Fast, and Fun

Traditional rulebooks are static, hard to navigate, and rarely helpful in real-time, particularly in amateur sports. Ruley changes that by using proprietary AI to provide answers on the actual gameplay scenario, giving players accurate, context-specific answers in moments. The average time it takes someone to answer a scenario or rules question using Ruley is less than 60 seconds, allowing games to flow more smoothly and enhancing the overall experience for participants.

From recreational leagues and youth teams, to casual weekend players, Ruley’s intuitive and simple experience is designed to:

• Eliminate ambiguity around complex or lesser-known rules

• Accelerate onboarding for players trying new sports or niche sports

• Promote sportsmanship, particularly among younger athletes and their families, in order to have a positive impact on society as a whole

Building a Better Culture in Sports

More than just a rules app, Ruley is a movement for better sportsmanship. By creating a shared standard of clarity and fairness, Ruley empowers players, coaches, and parents to foster environments rooted in respect and integrity. Early users report improved player interactions, reduced tension during gameplay, and a more welcoming experience for new athletes.

Scalable Across Sports and Built for the Future

Ruley’s platform is built to grow alongside the ever-evolving sports landscape. Its AI can onboard new players to a sport in less than a week, making it ideal for both mainstream activities and emerging games. Already supporting three sports (padel, pickleball, and tennis), with early partnerships in development, Ruley is positioned to become the go-to source for real-time rule guidance in multi-sport clubs, leagues, and community centers, and other sports applications via its API and widgets.

About Ruley

Ruley is the world’s first AI-powered rules assistant for recreational and amateur sports. Women-owned and built to remove confusion, promote fairness, and enhance gameplay, Ruley provides instant, context-specific rule guidance across a growing list of sports and games. Whether you’re a seasoned athlete or just learning the ropes, Ruley helps you play with confidence, clarity, and camaraderie.

Just Ruley It.

To learn more, visit ruley.ai.

From SportsTechX

• USTA Ventures invested in Edge Sound Research to enhance the fan experience, acquired a stake in Court 16, partnered with Lead for strategic tennis investments, and launched a fan engagement partnership through PlayReplay.

• WTA Ventures achieved strong growth in its first year, extended its CVC partnership, agreed a Tencent rights deal, and enlisted Wasserman for sponsorships.

• BallerTV announced its AI-powered BallerCam technology, with Alex Morgan serving as brand ambassador.

• The ITF expanded electronic line calling beyond elite tournaments with a new three-tiered classification system.

• Milan-based padel tourism marketplace Weebora raised €1.3 million ($1.4 million) in a pre-seed round to support its international expansion.

HEAD BOOM NEON: Feel the energy of New York

tennishead

UK magazine tennishead sent out a good report on the new Wilson Ultra series.
Wilson’s most powerful racket silo, the Ultra series, has had a reboot and now harnesses not only explosive power, but enhanced accuracy and control with a clever bit of spin – all coated in a dazzling ‘Electric Indigo’ makeover.”

Read the full report.

More from Wilson

Wilson x Sabalenka: BLADE V9 FIGHTER​ EDITION

Wilson continues to focus on personalization for their tennis athletes. Wilson worked with World No. 1, Aryna Sabalenka, to design a custom Blade® v9 racket for her to play with during the US Open.

Themed “The Fighter™,” the limited-edition racket features a bold flame-inspired design that channels her passion and power into every swing. The racket is being sold in limited quantities in select stores and online beginning today, Aug. 25, for $279.