200811 Racquet Sports Industry

November/December 2008Volume 36 Number 10 $5.00

THE TENNISECONOMYWhat You CanExpect ForYour BusinessAttractingYounger Talent ToThe Industry

THE TENNISECONOMYWhat You CanExpect ForYour BusinessAttractingYounger Talent ToThe Industry

ContentsContents

DEPARTMENTS

R S I N O V / D E C 2 0 0 8

INDUSTRY NEWS

7 Adidas is back in theracquet market

7 Jon Muir to head TIA

7 ASBA to meet in New Orleans

8 Head debuts newCrossbow frames

8 Gamma adds Zo TourRough 16 string

8 USTA honors 13Outstanding Facilities

9 Nova Sports chosen forLithuanian facility

10 USPTA recognizes leadersin tennis

11 New Babolat Addictionstring launched

13 Penn balls featured ontwo TV shows

15 Historic club convertsto Nova’Pro Clay

15 Lee Tennis endorsesWilson clay-court shoe

16 USTA launches Tennison Campus website

17 Babolat debuts XS lineof racquets

4 Our Serve

7 Industry News

18 TIA News & Updates

37 Industry Resource Guide

42 String Playtest: Pacific Power Hybrid

44 Tips and Techniques

46 Ask the Experts

48 Your Serve, by Gordon Smith

THE TENNIS ECONOMY

26 Major PlayersAs overall economic uncertainty con-tinues, increasing tennis participationmay be the bright spot that sees thisindustry through.

28 Unstable Building?Spiraling costs mean that suppliers,contractors and clients can expect tofeel the pinch.

30 Hitting the NumbersAs costs to produce racquets continueto rise, expect to see retail priceshead higher, too.

32 Playing BallWith materials, labor and shipping allundergoing dramatic cost increases,are we looking at rising tennis ballprices?

34 A Softening Market?While soft-goods dealers areoptimistic, uncertain times are forcingsome changes in how they dobusiness.

2 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY November/December 2008

22 Generation Next?With the “graying” of industry personnel,leaders are worried that the tennis businessisn’t attracting enough young talent.

Noteto readers:

We’ve moved ourpopular Championsof Tennis Awards

to the Januaryissue.

CAREERS IN TENNIS

mid all the excitement surrounding the US Open, I haveto admit that I was a little disappointed about something.What bothered me was just a tiny blip on tennis’s radar

screen—and that, I feel, is the problem.During the Open, the USTA holds its semi-annual meeting, where various com-

mittees get together and discuss plans, create strategies, and check on the progressof initiatives. I sat in when the Advocacy Task Force met, and what disappointedme was the lack of attendance at the meeting. Sure, the members of the task force(it’s not yet a full “committee”) were there, but the audience—presumably of thoseconcerned with tennis in this country—was rather sparse.

This meeting, I felt, should have pulled in people from all other committees andUSTA departments. These are the people tasked with promoting and developing thegrowth of tennis in this country, and that, after all, is the USTA’s mission. For recre-ational tennis in the U.S.—and even for professional tennis—“advocacy” may wellbe the most important thing that will keep this sport going, and growing. The roomshould have been overflowing.

Afterward, I mentioned my concerns to Barry Ford, the USTA’s director of out-reach and advocacy. I feel advocacy for tennis should be one of the most importantthings this industry needs to get behind, because advocacy crosses every line in thisbusiness. And with the overall economy in the dumper right now, this industryneeds plenty of people to advocate for tennis in communities around the country.

What is advocacy? When the USTA started its initiative a few years ago, thefocus was mainly on government relations, such as making sure tennis courts andprograms are included in plans for public parks, schools and colleges. Indeed, therehave been a number of success stories around the country, where courts were builtor saved by the efforts of a few who rallied government leaders and communitymembers.

But as Ford told me, advocacy now is much more than that. While people stillneed to engage the public sector and other nonprofits and companies in ways thatget facilities built and tennis programs in place, now advocacy, “is more around see-ing yourself as someone who’s helping to change the culture, whether as a tennisprofessional, tennis parent or tennis player,” says Ford. “You should have thepower, tools and strategies for changing the culture.”

Ford and his staff and advisors have been creating these tools, and more, andoffering them to anyone who is willing to help. Check out the advocacy website,http://thebigserve.usta.com. (Note: For some reason, unless it’s been changed sincelate September, it’s impossible to find an “advocacy” link on usta.com.) Tennis“should be as ubiquitous as soccer is for kids, or when I was young, Little Leaguebaseball,” says Ford, who is optimistic that tennis programming for youngsters willcontinue to grow.

I have to admit that I’m optimistic, too. But it concerns me that the advocacyeffort is not yet getting the attention it must have, both nationally and locally. Forthe readers of RSI, advocacy is more than a “feel-good” community initiative. It caneasily determine the fate of tennis in your community—and the future of your busi-ness.

Get involved, go to the website, contact your USTA section or district, or thenational advocacy folks. And for heaven’s sake, go to the meetings and participate.

Peter FrancesconiEditorial Director

Our ServeAdvocacy: The Biggest Issue of All? (Incorporating Racquet Tech and Tennis Industry)

PublishersDavid Bone Jeff Williams

Editorial DirectorPeter Francesconi

Associate EditorGreg Raven

Design/Art DirectorKristine Thom

Contributing EditorsRobin BatemanCynthia Cantrell

Rod CrossKristen DaleyJoe DinofferLiza Horan

James MartinGreg Moran

Chris NicholsonBob Patterson

Cynthia ShermanMary Helen Sprecher

RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRYCorporate Offices

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Email: [email protected]: www.racquetTECH.com

Office Hours: Mon.-Fri.,8 a.m.-5 p.m. Pacific Time

Advertising DirectorJohn Hanna

770-650-1102, [email protected]

Apparel AdvertisingCynthia Sherman203-263-5243

[email protected]

Racquet Sports Industry is published 10 times per

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Main St., Vista, CA 92084. November/December

2008, Volume 36, Number 10 © 2008 by USRSA and

Tennis Industry. All rights reserved. Racquet Sports

Industry, RSI and logo are trademarks of USRSA.

Printed in the U.S.A. Phone advertising: 770-650-

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A

RSI is the official magazine of the USRSA, TIA,and ASBA

national advocacy folks. And for h

Peter Francesconi

INDUSTRY NEWSINDUSTRY NEWSR S I N O V / D E C 2 0 0 8

I N F O R M A T I O N T O H E L P Y O U R U N Y O U R B U S I N E S S

The American Sports Builders Association’s annual Technical Meeting will be Dec. 6 to 9 at theAstor Crowne Plaza in New Orleans. The meeting will include presentations, sem-inars and a trade show. The welcome reception will be on Sunday, Dec. 7,

starting at 5:30 p.m.There will be about 30 different presentations and seminars, which run

throughout Monday and Tuesday. Topics will include renovating existing claycourts, safety issues on the jobsite, fencing, surfacing concrete tennis courts,job scheduling, marketing, communications and more, including sessions onprepping for the Certified Tennis Court Builder exam and problem-solving round-tables. A dinner on Tuesday will honor facilities of the year.

The Technical Meeting also will be the introduction of the ASBA’s new execu-tive vice president, Fred Stringfellow (right), whose company, King StringfellowGroup Inc. of Bel Air, Md., officially started with the ASBA in October. Stringfellowtakes over from longtime executive vice president Carol Hogan, who is retiring.

For more information on the ASBA Technical Meeting, including the agenda and links to reg-ister, visit www.sportsbuilders.org.

Van Horn InductedInto USPTA Hall ofFameWelbyVan Hornof LakeWorth,Fla., is agrandinducteein theUSPTAHall of Fame. Van Horn has beeninvolved in many facets of tennisas a player and coach. He wasofficially recognized and inductedat the USPTA’s annual awardsbreakfast during the USPTAWorld Conference on Tennis Sep-tember.

Van Horn’s career as a coach hasspawned institutions such as theWelby Van Horn Tennis Academyin Boca Raton, Fla., andWelbyVan Horn tennis programs in anumber of locations. The teachingsystem Van Horn developed isstill used today and it is featuredin his recent book, “The Secretsof the Tennis Master.”

A star player and contemporaryof other world-class players andUSPTA members—including FredPerry, Bobby Riggs, Bill Tilden andBruce Barnes—Van Horn reachedthe finals of the 1939 U.S.National Championships when hewas 19 years old.

“Welby Van Horn’s knowledge,commitment and success as atennis player and teacher arewhy he is an exemplary memberof the USPTA. It is an honor toinduct him into the USPTA Hall ofFame,” says USPTA CEO TimHeckler.

November/December 2008 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY 7

Adidas Is Back In Racquet Market

Adidas has gotten back into the racquet market. AvailableFeb. 1 in the U.S. will be three Adidas performance linesthat offer six frames. Each of the three racquet lines is

named for an Adidas shoe model—Barricade, Response andFeather.

The four racquets in the Barricade linefeature Adidas “Power Structure Technolo-gy” that the company says provides tor-sional stability and adds power to shotswhile increasing the sweetspot. The Bar-ricade racquets retail for $185.Adidas says the Barricade Tour, at 11.6

ounces, is designed for fast-swinging play-ers who can generate power and are look-ing for additional control. It is the heaviest

and stiffest of the frames. The Barricade TourLight is 10.6 ounces. Both have an 18/20 string

bed. The third racquet in this range is the Barricadeitself, a lighter version of the Tour with a 16/19string pattern. The Barricade Junior is for youngplayers.

The Response ($145) combines power and con-trol. The Feather ($165) is the lightest of the rac-quets but features the thickest frame for extrapower, says Adidas. All the racquets are manufac-

tured by Keentech. Visit www.adidas.com.

ASBA To Meet in New Orleans for Technical Meeting

Jon Muir, theworldwidegeneral

manager of Wil-son RacquetSports, will begin a two-yearterm as president of the Ten-nis Industry Association inJanuary. He takes over fromDave Haggerty, the presidentand CEO of Head USA, whobecame TIA president in2007.

“I look forward to contin-uing the progress that ourindustry has made with all ofus working together," saysMuir. "Staying focused on ini-tiatives that further supportthe on-going health of ourindustry will ensure both oursport and industry continueto grow as we move for-ward.”

Muir toHead TIA

N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 8IN

DUSTRYNEWS


Head Debuts 3 New CrossBow Frames

Head/Penn Racquet Sports has added three new “power-loaded” racquets to its CrossBow line. The company saysthe new Crossbow 8, 4 and 2 frames now provide a full

range of power for players with different swing styles. TheCrossBow 4 will hit stores inearly November and theCrossBow 8 and 2 will beshipped in February.

Head’s CrossBowtechnology features theworld’s first and onlydynamic bridge racquetconstruction, says thecompany. Designed forplayers with shorter, morecompact swings, the framesfeature a bridge suspendedfrom the frame that movesindependently, allowing the rac-quet to store energy in both thestringbed and the bridge, saysHead. The two-piece design actslike a spring or bow that is loadedduring ball impact and releasedas the ball accelerates off thestringbed.

CrossBow also uses 10 main strings though the bridge, offer-ing a larger sweetspot than is found on conventional fixed-bridge racquets, according to Head.

“We’ve had tremendous success with the CrossBow 10 andCrossBow 6, and the Airflow line has been very popular for usas well,” says Roger Petersman, senior business manager oftennis racquets for Head. “We are really excited to bring in thethree new CrossBow Racquets which will now appeal to a fullrange of players with various swing styles.”

The CrossBow 8 is designed for players with shorter, morecompact swings, the CrossBow 4 blends power and control forplayers with a more moderate swing style, and the CrossBow 2is a mid-plus frame suitable for power players with full swings.Visit www.head.com or call 800-289-7366.

USTA Honors 13 Facilities

Thirteen facilities received 2008 USTA Outstanding FacilityAwards and were honored recently at the USTA Semi-Annualmeeting in New York City during the US Open.In the Large Tennis Center (11 or more courts) category, the

winners were: Arlington (Texas) Tennis Center; Copeland-CoxTennis Center in Mobile, Ala.; Gates Tennis Center in Denver;Huntsville (Ala.) Tennis Center; Mercer County Park CommissionTennis Facility in West Windsor, N.J.; and Surprise (Ariz.) Tennis& Racquet Complex.

In the Small center (2 to 10 courts) category: Fairview ParkTennis Complex in Decatur, Ill., and Thunder Bay RecreationCenter in Alpena, Mich.

In the Private category: Ebensburg (Pa.) Tennis Center; LakeCharles (La.) Racquet Club; Manker Patten Tennis Club in Chat-tanooga; and Taos Tennis at Quail Ridge in El Prado, N.M.

In the Educational Institution category: Baseline Tennis Cen-ter at University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

To find out more about the awards program, email [email protected] or visit www.usta.com.

Gamma Adds Zo Tour Rough 16

Gamma is expanding its new Zo Tour line of strings with theGamma Zo Tour Rough 16. ZoTour Rough uses Gamma’s new

“Twist Technology,” which incorpo-rates twisting of the polyester matrixjust after the extrusion process,which the company says producesa rough textured surface for maxi-mum spin and more control.

This textured surface com-bined with the original Zo Tourconstruction also produces amore comfortable polyesterstring that is easier on the arm,says Gamma. Zo Tour Rough,which comes in orange only, is available in 40-foot sets and 660-foot reels. For information, call 800-333-0337or visit www.gammasports.com.

USTA Launches Phys Ed Tennis Curriculum

The USTA recently launched its new physical education curriculum, “ThePhysical Educator’s Guide for Teaching Tennis in Schools,” developed byrenowned physical education and tennis experts including noted author Dr.

Robert Pangrazi, professor emeritus at Arizona State University. The new USTAcurriculum is designed to provide both elementary educators and students witha fun, interactive means to develop motor skills while engaging students in phys-ical activity.

The USTA curriculum, which does not require an actual tennis court, isextremely versatile and can be used in any school setting for both large andsmall groups. In addition to teaching students skills they can use throughouttheir lives, each lesson includes group management techniques to ensure adynamic and engaged class. To learn more, visit www.USTA.com/schooltennis.


I N D U S T R Y N E W S

PTR Offers TennisiCoach to Members

The PTR and the International Ten-nis Federation will provide PTRteachers and coaches with special

pricing on Tennis iCoach, an educa-tional website that attracts more than

10,000 tennis teach-ers from 140nations.

Produced bythe ITF, Tennis

iCoach allows teaching pros to keepup to date with tennis advice, tools,tips and educational tutorials, avail-able in a variety of formats. Coachescan access information from tennisexperts around the world. TennisiCoach covers coaching methodologyand development, conditioning, sportsciences, video stroke analysis, edu-cation and resources for teaching alllevels of players.

“Tennis iCoach resources are notprovided by just one association, butby many. It’s a great global resource,”said PTR CEO Dan Santorum.“Although the regular cost of TennisiCoach is $100 a year, PTR memberscan get it for only $30.” Visitwww.ptrtennis.org for more informa-tion.

USTA Ball Testing Facility Honors Carlton Anderson

Have you ever wondered what itmeans when you see “USTAApproved” on a can of tennis

balls? Ball testing and approval is afunction of the USTA Technical Com-mittee, and on Aug. 31 the ball testinglaboratory at the USTA’s national head-quarters in White Plains, N.Y., was ded-icated posthumously to the man whomade the program a reality—CarletonAnderson Jr.

Carleton, who died in February atage 77, was an original member of theUSTA Ball Testing and EquipmentCommittee (which later joined theFacilities Committee to become the current Technical Committee) and served the USTAas a volunteer for 41 years. He was instrumental in developing the first tennis-ball test-ing equipment for the USTA and continued to spearhead the ball-testing program formost of his years on the Technical Committee. Carleton performed the ball testing as avolunteer, assisted by his family and friends. Later, he trained the USTA staff and Tech-nical Consultant to run the program.

Sheldon Westervelt, past chairman of the USTA Facilities Committee and a longtimemember of the Technical Committee, spoke during the dedication ceremony, recallingmany of Carlton’s contributions. Carlton’s wife, Peggy Ann, and children and grand-children also attended the ceremony.

Today, the USTA continues to test and approve tennis balls, but with more advancedtechnology and equipment. Balls are tested for mass, size, rebound height, and forwarddeformation. The current program remains under the USTA Technical Committee andis run by Suresh Ponnusamy and Jeremiah Yolkut. In 2008, about 80 ball types weresubmitted by eight manufacturers for approval testing and 93 ball types were tested aspart of the “off-the-shelf” program. —Peggy Beard

Nova Sports Chosen for Lithuanian Tennis Complex

The newly constructed Lithuanian NationalTennis Complex in Vilnius has chosen Mil-ford, Mass.-based Nova Sports USA’s Novac-

ushion and Ultracushion surfacing systems for its19 indoor and four outdoor courts. The complexis intended to be the premiere tennis facility inEastern Europe and will be home to variousnational and international tennis events includingthe European Championships and future DavisCup tournaments.

The entire complex, which is expected toservice 300,000 guests annually, will containrestaurants, shopping, fitness center and a 200-room upscale hotel. Lithuanian Prime MinisterGediminas Kirkilas and Tennis Europe PresidentJacques Dupre took part in the Sept. 25 ribbon-cutting ceremony alongside representativesfrom the court builder, MS Sport & Design ofRiga, Latvia, and Nova Sports USA. For moreinformation, contact [email protected].

USPTA Recognizes Leaders in Tennis

The USPTA honored its top teachers, coaches, players, volunteers and managersduring its annual national awards ceremony at the USPTA World Conference onTennis, which was held Sept. 15-20 at La Quinta Resort and Club in California.

USPTA CEO Tim Heckler (right) of Houstonreceived the George Bacso Lifetime Achievement

Award, one of the highest honors the USPTAcan bestow. It recognizes members who pro-vide the USPTA with outstanding service and

who dedicate a lifetime to raising the stan-dards of teaching. Heckler has served as the USPTACEO for 26 years.

Tom Sweitzer of Hershey, Pa., received the association’s topannual member award, the Alex Gordon Award for the USPTAProfessional of the Year. Sweitzer, owner of Central Penn Ten-nis Service, has taught more than 50,000 hours of on-court lessons with more than200 of his former students now coaching or teaching tennis.

The USPTA Star, recognizing teaching proos who make an indelible mark on theircommunities through tennis, was awarded to David Boon of Fort Collins, Colo. Boonhas contributed to the growth of tennis in Fort Collins for over 20 years with his workwith at-risk youth and recently establishing the only First Serve Chapter in the Inter-mountain area.

Jorge Andrew’s (right) commitment to bringing tennis tohis community of Lexington, S.C., and helping grow the game,through his involvement in several committees including theUSTA junior team tennis national committee and the USTASouthern youth community tennis programs committee, iswhat earned him the USTA/USPTA Community Service Award.

Stephen Tscherne of Sylmar, Calif., received the USPTAIndustry Excellence Award, recognizing business acumen anda charitable attitude. Tscherne is president of the Neighbor-hood Junior Tennis Program, which just celebrated its 15thanniversary, and has taught tennis to more than 1,500 children. The award is spon-sored by the TIA and supported by Tennis Tutor ball machines.

J.J. Sehlke of Boca Raton, Fla., received the Facility Manager of the Year Award.Sehlke is the managing partner of the Coral Ridge Country Club in Fort Lauderdale,Fla.Other honorees are:� Meredith Geiger-Walton, Austin, Texas—Touring Coach of the Year� Bill Macom, Melbourne, Fla.—College Coach of the Year� Laurie Martin, Tempe, Ariz.—High School Coach of the Year� Mike Lange, Geneva, Ill.—Georgo Bacso Tester of the YearThe following have been named Player of the Year in their respective divisions:� Adrians Zguns, Orlando, Fla.—Men’s Open� Jeff F. Cohen, Longwood, Fla.—Men’s 35-and-over� Pat Serret, Alexandria, La.—Men’s 45-and-over� Gewan Maharaj, Tampa, Fla.—Men’s 55-and-over� Marina McCollom, Ames, Iowa—Women’s Open� Robin Keener, Melbourne, Fla.—Women’s 35-and-over� Kathy Vick, Lubbock, Texas—Women’s 45-and-over� Sue Bramlette, Houston—Women’s 55-and-overUSPTA divisions receiving awards are:� Texas Division—Division of the Year� Texas Division—Newsletter of the Year� Missouri Valley Division—Most Improved Division of the Year

N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 8


Cutler Receives TopUSPTA Education Credits

At the USPTA World Conference onTennis in September, the organiza-tion honored Alan Cutler from

Whittier, Calif., as the top credit earnerin USPTA’s Career Development Pro-gram. Cutler, a USPTA Master Profes-sional and the director of tennis forPlaytennisforlife.info, earned 123 con-tinuing education credits, the most inthe 2007 program.

Other top education participants for2007 include: Holly Chomyn, KenDeHart, Feisal Hassan, Brett Hobden,Jeff Rothstein, Brian Ruffner, JamesShaughnessy, Keith Swindoll and JohnYandell.

Education merit awards for 10 yearsof continuing-education participationwent to: Tom McGraw, Patrick Kearnsand Fred Burdick.

Six Earn USPTAMaster Pro Distinction

Six tennis pros recently earnedrecognition as Master Profession-als in the USPTA, the organization’s

highest rating. Only about 1 percent ofUSPTA’s more than 15,000 membersworldwide have achieved the MasterProfessional designation.

Honored in September at the USPTAWorld Conference on Tennis were:� Donnia Bondallian, Kailua Kona,Hawaii—founder of Tenniscize Inc.and concessionaire at Holua TennisClub.

� Dave Dvorak, Marietta, Ga.—directorof tennis at Dunwoody Country Clubin Dunwoody, Ga.

� David Minihan, Norman, Okla.—director of tennis at the WestwoodTennis Center in Norman, Okla.

� Dave Gary, Peachtree City, Ga.—inde-pendent teaching professional forPeachtree City.

� Keith Swindoll, Tuscaloosa, Ala.—director of tennis at Indian Hills Coun-try Club in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

� Tom McGraw, Louisville, Ky.—directorof tennis and head pro at LouisvilleCountry Club and head pro atLouisville Tennis Club in Louisville, Ky.

INDUSTRYNEWS



Viking Expands DealWith APTA

Vikinghasbeen

namedOfficial Ball of allAmerican PlatformTennis Association National Champi-onships through 2013. The Viking ballhad already been in use at the Men’s andWomen’s Open APTA National Champi-onships since 1999.

“We are pleased that the APTA hasexpanded and extended our ball agree-ment in terms of scope and length oftime and to be able to provide Vikingballs to these high-profile events,” saysScott Winters, Vice President of Indoorand Paddle Sports at Prince Sports,which acquired the Viking brand inMarch.

“With the recent Prince Sports part-nership and added product develop-ment and quality control practices putinto place, already great Viking productsare even better, so we decided toexpand the official partnership,” saysAPTA President Mark Fischl.

Babolat AddictionString Hits the MarketBabolat’s newest multifilament string,Addiction, is for players looking for ablend of comfort, power and durabili-

ty, says the compa-ny. It’s made ofpolyamide fibers(PA) andpolyurethane(PU) matrix,with addi-tional fibersmaking up

a central core.Polytetrafluorethylene

(PTFE) fibers provide an increaseddurability due to the low coefficient offriction, says Babolat. It comes in 16and 17 gauge. Visit www.babolat.comor call 877-316-9435.

• Wilson players SerenaWilliams and Roger Federertook the singles titles at the

2008 US Open. Williams playedwith her [K] Blade Team for her third

Open crown, while Federer won his fifthstraight Open title with his [K] Six.One 95.

• Andy Murray, playing with a Head MicroGelRadical MP, beat world No. 1 Rafael Nadal inthe US Open semifinals to reach his firstcareer Grand Slam final. He was defeated byRoger Federer in the rain-delayed final.

• Jose Higueras has been named director of doach-ing for USTA Elite Player Development. Higueras will oversee all ofthe program’s men’s and women’s coaching efforts and will workat the USTA Training Centers in Boca Raton, Fla., and Carson,Calif., as well as Palm Springs, Calif., where Higueras lives. Hewill report to Patrick McEnroe, general manager of Elite PlayerDevelopment.

• Five-time US Open singles champion Pete Sampras and eight-time US Championships singles champion Molla Mallory werenamed the 2008 inductees into the US Open Court of Champi-ons, which honors the greatest singles champions in the history ofthe U.S. Championships/US Open.

• Mark L. Stenning is the 2008 recipient of the International Ten-nis Hall of Fame Chairman’s Award, which recognizes outstandingservice by a Hall of Fame board member. Stenning currently is theHall’s CEO.

• Just before the US Open, young Americans Jesse Levine andJamea Jackson each signed multi-year contracts to endorse Dun-lop racquets, balls and court luggage. Levine played with the Dun-lop Aerogel 2Hundred and Jackson used the Aerogel 5Hundred.

• Wilson player Juan Martin del Potro, with his [K] Six.One 95 rac-quet, captured a fourth straight ATP title this summer at the LeggMason Tennis Classic in Washington, D.C.

• A memoir by Serena Williams will be released in 2009 by GrandCentral Publishing, which beat out a handful of other publishersbidding for the life story of the top-ranked player. Sources say bid-ding apparently reached at least $1.3 million for the as-yet unti-tled book.

• Head Team Elite's Grigor Dimitrov completed hisjunior career with a second consecutive boys’Grand Slam title, capturing the US Opentitle and the No. 1 spot in the ITF worldrankings. Dimitrov, 17, from Bulgaria, wonthe Wimbledon boys’ title in July. He uses a

Head MicroGel Prestige Mid.

• Miguel Margets, captain of the Span-ish Fed Cup Team, is the recipient of the 2008Fed Cup Award of Excellence, presented by theInternational Tennis Hall of Fame and the ITF.

• Six-time Men’s Professional World Champion CliffSwain of Boston has signed a long-term contract toexclusively use equipment from Head. The USA Rac-quetball Hall of Famer plans to play in all InternationalRacquetball Tour’s Grand Slam events during the 2008-2009 season, as well as most of the Tier 1 events.

• USTA Nevada has named Ryan Wolfington as executive director.Wolfington is also the co-founder of VegasTennis.com and MartyHennessy's Junior Tennis Foundation, which has raised close to$1 million for children in need.

• Sharon Jackson of Shelbyville, Ind., the reigningUSA Racquetball 18 & Under Junior Champion ingirls’ singles, girls’ doubles and mixed doubleshas signed a long-term contract with Head. Jack-son has earned a spot on the USA Racquetball

Junior National Team.

• The International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum has namedChristopher E. Clouser of Wellington, Fla., as the new chairman ofthe board of directors. Clouser succeeds Hardwick Simmons, whoserved as Chairman for the past four years. In addition, Douglas A.Stark has been named museum director.

• Former Top 10 WTA tour player Chanda Rubin received theEugene L. Scott Renaissance Award at this year’s National PublicParks Tennis Championships in New Orleans. The award is present-ed in honor of Gene Scott, who supported the ideals of publicparks tennis.

• Billie Jean King received the Hollis Smith LifetimeAchievement Award, presented annually by the NationalPublic Parks Tennis Association to an individual who hasbeen an outstanding advocate of the NPPTA andNational Public Parks Tennis Championships.

• Zbynek Mlynarik of Chatsworth, Calif., and Marina McCol-lom of Ames, Iowa, claimed the men’s and women’s open divisiontitles at the $30,000 USPTA International Championships at the LaQuinta Resort and Club in September.

• Bob Pfaender of St. Cloud, Fla., who was RSI’s Sales Rep ofthe Year in 2002, is the USTA Florida Section’s SeptemberVolunteer of the Month.

• Asia Muhammad, the junior tennis star who start-ed playing tennis on two courts in the inner cityat the Andre Agassi Boys and Girls Club inLas Vegas, has turned pro.

P E O P L E W AT C H



DUSTRYNEWS



Penn Tennis BallsFeatured on TV Shows

Penn tennis balls were featured onthe Discovery Channel show “SomeAssembly Required” in September

and on National Geographic’s new “Fac-tory Floor” in October.

On the Discovery Channel, host BrianUnger took viewers through the Pennplant in Phoenix. National Geographicshow host Marshall Brain also toured theplant and talked with Penn’s JayWilliams.

“It is great to showcase the qualityand effort that goes into the productionof each of our Penn balls,” says JenniferParker, Penn business manager. To viewa clip, go to http://natgeotv.com/factoryfloor and click on Episodes.

U.S. Juniors SweepInternational Team Titles

The U.S. made history in 2008 withfour prestigious international titles.After both the boys and girls won at

the World Junior Tennis in the CzechRepublic this summer, the Americans alsotook the Junior Fed Cup and Davis Cup byBNP Paribas finals held in San Luis Potosi,Mexico. It was the first time any nationhas swept all four junior events.

The winning teams were:� World Junior Tennis (14 and under): Tyler Gardiner,Alexios Halebian and Christian Harrison, KyleMcPhillips, Grace Min and Sachia Vickery

� Junior Davis Cup (16 and under): Evan King, DennisKudla and Raymond Sarmiento

� Junior Fed Cup (16 and under): Kristie Ahn, Christi-na McHale and Sloane Stephens

Congratulations To the Following ForAchieving MRT and CS Status

New Master RacquetTechnicians - MRTsFrancesco Mordasini Dallas, TXNew Certified Stringers - CSsGregg McIntosh Gastonia, NCLeandro Ramirez North Lauderdale, FLAlex Iselin Boulder, CO

USRSA MEMBER CLASSIFIEDSFOR SALE: Recently retired from proshop and have 45 pairs of Wilson andPrince tennis shoes. Men’s andWomen’s, assorted sizes and models.My cost $34.00 to $48.00 per pair.Will sell all for $20 per pair, includingfreight. Bob Tuttle, 2477 Park Ave.,Baldwin, NY 11510. Call for moreinfo, (516) 867-4686.

FOR SALE: Babolat Star 5. Recentlypurchased. New and still boxed. Paid$3,000. Selling for $2,500 or bestoffer. Prefer Southern California buyer(Orange County). Contact Andy at(213) 321-9812.

Retractable Rooffor Ashe Stadium?

While the remnants of HurricaneHanna forced the US Open to sus-pend play on Saturday, Sept. 6,

USTA officials said a retractable roof willbe coming to Arthur Ashe Stadium at theUSTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center inNew York.

"At this point, it's a question of whenas opposed to if," said Arlen Kantarian,the USTA's CEO of Professional Tennis."Clearly, it's in our sights." A retractableroof is projected to cost about $100 mil-lion. Kantarian said there was no specifictimetable for the roof to be in place.


> Wilson Racquet Sports and the Interna-

tional Tennis Federation have extended their

sponsorship agreement to include Wilson as

the Official Ball of Davis Cup, Fed Cup and

other ITF initiatives for a multi-year deal. In

addition, Wilson is the exclusive supplier of

racquets, shoes, clothing and accessories to

the ITF Development Coaching Team. Wilson

has been involved in Davis Cup since 2002.

> Athco Inc. has signed a long-term agree-

ment with Dunlop Sports Group Americas

Inc. and IBML to merchandise Dunlop-brand-

ed apparel in the U.S. market. The agree-

ment includes all activewear with the

exception of golf.

> US Open champion Serena Williams and

2008 Olympic tennis gold medalist Elena

Dementieva will square off at the PNC Tennis

Classic presented by The Baltimore Sun, says

Tournament Chairman and Founder Pam

Shriver. The charity event will be at the 1st

Mariner Arena on Nov. 21. Tickets are avail-

able through TicketMaster or at 410-547-SEAT

(7328), or visit www.pnctennisclassic.org.

> The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, ATP, Inter-

national Tennis Federation and the Grand

Slam Committee announced both the

appointment of Jeff Rees as director of the

sport’s newly formed Tennis Integrity Unit

and the landmark adoption of a uniform

Anti-Corruption Code across the sport.

> The U.S. Tennis Writers Association filled

open board of director positions at its annu-

al meeting held during the US Open in Sep-

tember. Cynthia Cantrell (an RSI contributing

editor) and Cheryl Jones joined the board of

directors. Continuing on the board are Liza

Horan, Ann LoPrinzi, Jim Martz and Mark

Winters. Also, longtime members photogra-

pher Russ Adams and writer Bob Larson

were named Honorary Members for their

contributions to the USTWA and the sport.

And the organization honored writer Bud

Collins and photographer Art Seitz, who

have covered the US Open for 40 years.

> K3 Tennis balls (www.k3tennis.com) have

been chosen as the Official Ball for the “Lit-

tle Mo” National Tennis Championships.

> A website devoted to Pete Sampras,

www.samprasfanz.com, is asking visitors to

sign a petition to be sent to the USTA

requesting that a statue of Sampras be

erected at the USTA Billie Jean King

National Tennis Center, home of the US

Open.

> The International Tennis Hall of Fame

has named five nominees for its 2009

induction class. Monica Seles is in the

Recent Player category, Andres Gimeno

in the Master Player category, and Don-

ald L. Dell, Dr. Robert Johnson and Eiichi

Kawatei in the Contributor category.

> Wilson has extended its partnership

as the official tennis ball, racquet and

accessories of the National Association

of Intercollegiate Athletics. In the multi-

year deal, Wilson will continue providing

tennis balls for the NAIA men’s and

women’s tennis conference, independ-

ent and national championship events.

All tennis balls used at these events will

feature both the Wilson US Open and

NAIA logos.

> TENNIS.com is the new title sponsor

of the Zurich Open, which was played in

October.

> The USTA reached an agreement in

August to buy a majority interest in the

Cincinnati Masters ATP hard-court tour-

nament—the Western & Southern

Financial Group Masters—and hopes to

turn it into a combined event for men

and women. The event is part of the

Olympus US Open Series of hard court

events leading up to the US Open. The

USTA plans a multimillion-dollar renova-

tion to the tournament stadium in

Mason, Ohio.

> Tennis Life Magazine has been named

the official magazine of Tennis Ireland

and will customize its publication for the

Irish tennis market.

> The Climb for Cancer Foundation has

teamed up with the USTA Florida Section

Foundation for a charitable tennis event

at Bardmoor Golf & Tennis Club in Largo

and the Hilton Clearwater Beach Resort

during USTA Florida’s 59th Annual Meet-

ing and Volunteer Appreciation Week-

end, Dec. 5-7.

SHORT SETSN O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 8

INDUSTRYNEWS

> Thirty-six participants—18 women and

18 men—signed on for the inaugural Flex-

Time Tennis League in Bucks County, Pa.,

this past summer. Bucks County Tennis

Association Inc. board member Laura Can-

field helped organize the league, which

allowed players to schedule their matches at

their convenience—any day, any time—at a

mutually-agreed upon site. The BCTA

(www.buckscounty.usta.com), which recent-

ly was recognized as a top 50 Tennis Wel-

come Center, plans to expand the league in

2009.

> The Outback Champions Series, a global

tennis circuit for champion tennis players

age 30 and over, announced two new tour

events: The Rio Champions Cup will be

March 12-15 at the HSBC Arena in Rio de

Janiero, Brazil, and the Del Mar Develop-

ment Champions Cup will be March 18-22

at the Palmilla Tennis Club in Los Cabos,

Mexico.

> The International Tennis Hall of Fame’s

“Legends Ball” took place Sept. 5 at Cipri-

ani 42nd Street in New York City, during the

US Open. The event honored Billie Jean

King and the Hall of Fame Class of 2008:

Michael Chang, Mark McCormack and

Eugene L. Scott. TV journalist Barbara Wal-

ters introduced King.

> During the US Open, the USTA opened

it’s first-ever “pop-up” store in New York

City, called US Open Soho, which offered

US Open branded apparel officially licensed

by the USTA. The temporary store was open

from Aug. 22 to Sept. 10.

> Team Southern defeated Youth Tennis

San Diego to defend their title at the World

TeamTennis Junior Nationals presented by

Advanta at the George E. Barnes Tennis

Center in San Diego in August.

> The USPTA Competitive Player Develop-

ment Conference will be Dec. 4-6 at the

Academia Sanchez-Casal in Naples, Fla.

Both former tour players Emilio Sanchez-

Vicario and Sergio Casal will be featured

speakers. Registration is $250 for USPTA

members and includes all materials. For

info, visit www.uspta.com or contact edu-

[email protected] or 800-877-8248.

Lee Tennis EndorsesWilson Clay Shoe

Lee Tennis Court Products, the maker ofthe Har-Tru surface, has endorsed theWilson Trance II shoe as the shoe best

suited for play on clay courts. The shoes willbe tagged with Har-Tru labels to showcasetheir compatibility and playability on clay,says Lee.

“We are excited about offering playerswith a love for the game yet another chanceto raise their game to new levels and to pro-vide them the safest and most comfortableplaying experience,” says Randy Futty, gen-eral manager of Lee Tennis Court Products.

Pat Hanssen, Lee’s director of sales,adds, “The Trance II is the best shoe at bal-ancing comfort and control safely on clay aswell as all other court surfaces.” Accordingto Hanssen, the Wilson Trance II providessuperior traction with its full herringbonetread that wraps up the sides of the shoe.

“We’re happy that the Wilson Trance IIreceived this breakthrough endorsementfrom Har-Tru,” says Cory Springer, Wilson’s

marketing director forUSA Racquet Sports.


Historic Club Converts to Nova’Pro Clay

The Garneau Tennis Club, in a city park in downtown Edmonton, Alberta, Cana-da, converted its seven asphalt courts to Nova’Pro Clay. The reconstructionbegan in October 2007 and was completed this summer.Originally built in 1929, the Garneau Tennis and Beach Volleyball Club is listed on

the historical register for the City of Edmonton. The venue’s courts are the only redclay tennis courts within the province. The executive committee chose to replace theexisting courts using a burgundy red clay topping with NGI Sports’ Nova’Pro Clay sys-tem. Upgrades were made to the court base structure, drainage and irrigationsystems.

“Nova’Pro Clay proved to be the most economical way to bring a strong base tothe facility while avoiding major excavation,” says GTC President Derri Thomas. Formore information, contact 800-835-0033 or visit www.NGISports.com.

PTR Hires ChiefOperating Officer

Pat Decker has joined thePTR in the newly createdposition of chief operat-

ing officer. Decker, who hasextensive financial experi-ence onWall Street, has owned andmanagedthe Middlebury (Conn.) Racquet club since1995. She also is on the board of directors ofUSTA New England and is vice president ofthe Connecticut Association of Tennis ClubOwners.

“We are excited to have the expertiseand knowledge that Pat brings to the staff,”says PTR CEO Dan Santorum. “She willallow us to reach out further to provide greatservice, quality education and excellent ben-efits to PTR members worldwide.”


Prince Hires Squash Promotions Coordinator

The new promotions coordinator for Prince Squash is Damon Leedale-Brown.Originally from England and now residing in the U.S., Leedale-Brown has along history in squash on the retail, coaching and promotions sides, most

recently managing a high-end fitness center and squash program in Wilmington,Del.

In his new position, he will play an instrumental role in a variety of promo-tional activities, including overseeing player and event management; working torecruit, sign and retain players; executing player appearances and driving event

promotions efforts. He will alsoassist in mobilizing a playtestteam.

Leedale-Brown has workedextensively with EnglandSquash on its World Class Per-formance Plan. He is anaccredited professional coachthrough England Squash, a cer-tified Strength & ConditioningSpecialist with the NationalStrength & Conditioning Asso-ciation, and serves as a Per-formance Training Consultantto the US Junior and SeniorNational Teams.


DUSTRYNEWS


Tharp to Work With Rodney Street Assn.

Tina Tharp is the new managingdirector of the Rodney Street Tennisand Tutoring Association in Wilm-

ington, Del., a USTA NJTL chapter thatprovides innovative tennis and educa-tional enrichment programs to morethan 1,300 inner-city youth.

“I’m excited about the opportunity,particularly to work with Jane BrownGrimes, who has committed to serve onthe RST&TA Board upon the completionof her term as USTA president inDecember,” says Tharp, who mostrecently was the executive director at

Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education in Philadelphia. She alsorecently accepted the head men’s and women’s tennis coach positionat West Chester (Pa.) University.

NYC Honors Former Mayor DavidDinkins in Flushing Meadows

The City of New York renamed the base of thepasserelle outside the USTA Billie Jean King NationalTennis Center’s East Gate the “David Dinkins Circle,”

in honor of the city’s former mayor and current USTAboard member, who was instrumental in keeping the USOpen in New York. "I love this tournament, I love thissport and I love this city,” said Dinkins. “I am deeplygrateful that my name will forever be associated with thistournament."

The circle, commemorating the 1964 World’s Fair,serves as the gateway through which most of the700,000 annual visitors pass to attend the Open. Dinkinsassisted the USTA’s relocation of the tournament in 1978from the private club setting of Forest Hills to its currenthome in Flushing Meadows.

USTA Creates Tennis YouTube Channels

The USTA is creating multiple USTA-branded channels that will bededicated to tennis on YouTube. The USTA will offer two chan-nels, one for professional tennis and one for recreational tennis.The USOpen Channel (www.youtube.com/usopen) launched in

August in time for the US Open and included daily updates, post-match player interviews, an “Explore the Open” feature, and more.The second channel (www.youtube.com/tennis) will be devoted torecreational tennis and is scheduled to launch later this fall. Therecreational channel will feature instructional videos, footage fromlocal USTA events, and will allow users to upload their own tennisclips.

Ashaway Adds512 Model to AMPS Squash LineAshaway has expanded its line of anatomically molded squashshoes with the new AMPS 512 model, which incorporates a newAnatomic Stability and Cushioning System. Ashaway AMPS(Anatomic Multi-Performance System) footwear is designed tosupport the whole foot, increasing comfort, stability and cushion-ing while reducing foot fatigue, says the company. Contact 800-556-7260 or visit www.ashawayusa.com.

USTA Launches TennisOn Campus Website

The USTA launched a new website designed to serve asa resource for the more than 450 college and univer-sities and nearly 30,000 players who participate in a

Tennis On Campus program at their school. The officialwebsite of the Tennis On Campus program,www.tennisoncampus.com will provide an array ofresources, materials and information to help support therapidly expanding non-varsity side of college tennis.

The Tennis On Campus program, launched in 2000,features co-ed teams participating in intramural and inter-collegiate (club) play using the World TeamTennis formaton campuses nationwide. Tennis On Campus also pro-vides college students with opportunities for leadershipdevelopment, social networking and competition.

In addition to servicing current college students,www.tennisoncampus.com also offers an opportunity forhigh school tennis players, junior players and their par-ents to become more informed of the tennis “scene” on aparticular campus. The site features team profiles, links toeach team’s website and popular Facebook pages.

Some of the free downloadable resources available onthe site include customizable marketing materials,fundraising resources, tips for tennis club leaders, and aguidebook for starting a club tennis team. The site alsolists upcoming tournaments like the USTA Campus Cham-pionship Sectional Events and a countdown to the USTANational Campus Championship in Surprise, Ariz., in April2009.

For more information, go towww.tennisoncampus.com, or e-mail [email protected].



Babolat Debuts XS Line of Racquets

Babolat has introduced a new range of high-performance rac-quets–the XS line–featuring Babolat’s new Xtra Sweetspottechnology.

Designed for intermediate players, the Babolat XS 102and Babolat XS 105 are lightweight and maneuverable,says the company. The Xtra Sweetspot technology fea-

tures an exclusive grommet design that Babolatsays significantly increases the sweetspot whileproviding a dampening affect and a longercontact time between the ball and string.

“Babolat’s new grommet design gives youa visible advantage over other mid-plus rac-quets because you get the benefit of a largersweetspot without having to enlarge the rac-quet head,” says Folco Canonico, Babolat’ssenior product manager of racquets. “You can

have the extra power with greater maneuver-ability and control without having to go to anoversize. You’ll produce more forgiving shots withincreased power.”The XS 102 has a 102-square-inch head size and

weighs 9.3 ounces, with a 16 by 20 string pattern.The XS 105 has a 105-square-inch head and thesame weight and string pattern. Both retail for $119.Visit www.babolat.com or call 877-316-9435.

Prince Offers ‘Customyze It’Feature On Its Website

Prince has launched a new feature on its website thatallows players to create their own racquet cosmetic.“Customyze It” on www.princetennis.com is now

available for the O3 Speedport Black racquet.Players not only can customize the racquet’s feel by

choosing either String Hole or String Port inserts, theyalso can use the Customyze It tool to create their owncosmetic in more than 2,400 color combinations. Afterthey design their frame, they can email it to friends, printit out, and find a local dealer to make the frame a reality.

The Customyze It feature is helpful for leagues andschool and college teams looking to match their racquetwith team colors and apparel.


T I A N E W S N O V / D E C 2 0 0 8

A recent meet-ing at theUSPTAWorldConferenceincluded a can-did discussionon our “gray-

ing” tennis industry and theneed to attract younger talentinto the business, not only onthe teaching front, but in allareas. Many groups haverecognized this need, andmany (including the USTA,USPTA, PTR, ITA and others)already are actively engagedin these efforts.

To help get us all working col-lectively to address thisissue—and over time bringchanges that will assure oursport as a vital, attractive andcompetitive career choice—the TIA is spearheading anawareness campaign and a“Careers in Tennis” initiative.The RSI story on page 22helps to lay out this issue.Other initial steps involvefact-finding and research,pulling together our existingresources and identifying thebest pathways for thisprogress to occur.

You can help in this industry-wide initiative by going totennisindustrynews.organd posting suggestions andcomments in the forum. Thesite also will have progressreports on the campaign.

We look forward to yourinput and support as we worktogether to attract and devel-op future generations whowill carry our sport forward.

NEWS & UPDATESNEWS & UPDATES

Jolyn de Boer

The second annual TIA Tennis Forum, presented by Tennis Magazine,was held in New York City at the end of August in conjunction with theUS Open and the USTA Tennis Teachers Conference. “We want to

share some of the good news in this sport,” Tennis Magazine Group Publish-er Jeff Williams told the more than 250 attendees.The group heard about racquet and ball shipments, the new “Tennis

Health Index,” new initiatives, the visibility of tennis in mainstream media,and the inaugural inductees into the new Tennis Industry Hall of Fame.Despite a down economy overall, said TIA President Dave Haggerty, tennis participation in the

U.S. has been increasing. He pointed to an SGMA survey of traditional sports that shows tennis hashad the largest participation increase, 30.6 percent over the last seven years, far ahead of its near-est rival, golf, which saw a 2.4 percent increase over the same period. Also, according to TIA Censusdata, total racquet shipments from 2003 through 2007 increased 42 percent and shipments of youthracquets increased by 80 percent. Ball shipments have increased from 113.5 million units in 2003 to130.6 million through last year.Key in the measure of tennis activity in the U.S. is the new Tennis

Health Index (THI), a composite of six measurements from differentsources, including various participation studies, tennis ball data and theCourt Activity Monitor, which tracks tennis courts booked. Using 2003 asthe baseline (100), the THI is up 10.8 percent through 2007, to 110.8.USTA Community Tennis Chief Executive Kurt Kamperman noted the

growth in participation in a number of USTA programs, including adult tennis leagues, up 28 percentsince 2003, and USTA Jr. Team Tennis, up 27 percent since 2004. The new QuickStart Tennis formatfor kids aged 10 and under debuted this past spring and is generating a lot of interest and publicity,said Kamperman.

Join the TIA . . . Increase Your Profits . . . Grow the Game . . . www.TennisIndustry.org

News You Can Use! Latest Research News Presented at the TIA Forum

Dennis Van der Meer, Howard HeadInducted Into Tennis Industry Hall of Fame

Dennis Van der Meer and Howard Head are the first twoinductees into the new “Tennis Industry Hall of Fame.”The two men and their contributions to the sport were

honored at a special reception in New York City just before theUS Open.“We’ve set the bar very high with our inaugural

inductees,” said TIA President Dave Haggerty. “Dennis Vander Meer and Howard Head are two titans of tennis, well-deserving of this honor.” Van der Meer’s life work has con-tributed to the betterment of tennis for those in the industryas well as players worldwide, and Head, who died in 1991,was a true visionary who revolutionized both the tennis andski industries.The Tennis Industry Hall of Fame recognizes those indi-

viduals who have made a significant impact to the sport,from the 1960s to the present. Nominations are made in fourcategories: inventors, founders, innovators and contributors.For more information, or to submit nominations, visitwww.TennisIndustry.org/HOF.

STAYI N FORMED !Visit TennisIndus-tryNews.org fre-quently for all thelatest news andinformation. Thesite includes newsfeeds from RSI,an industry calen-dar, GrowingTen-nis newslettersand archives, linksto industry part-ners, industrynewsletters, and atennis media andmanufacturersearch. Also, youcan submit yourown news to thewebsite, and weʼllshare it with otherIndustry Newspartners.

If you missed the Forum, youcan view and download theresearch and the full presen-tation for free atwww.TennisIndustryNews.org

T I A N E W S

Cardio Tennis TakesOff at USPTA Conference

Cardio Tennis received a huge boost at thisyear’s USPTA World Conference on Ten-nis. Michele Krause and the Cardio Ten-

nis team at the event—Samantha Ardenfriend,Rosie Bareis, Mike Woody, Jorge Capestany,David Schwartz, Feisal Hassan, Ajay Pant, Ken DeHart and Jorge Andrew—heldCT workouts on three mornings, and 178 pros attended. All wore heart-rate

monitors. “Our objective for theweek was to burn 60,000 calories,and we burned 84,700,” saysKrause, the TIA’s national CardioTennis manager. “Many thanks tothe USPTA for supporting the Car-dio Tennis program.”

SoCal’s Jauregui Wins Cardio Tennis Shootout

The two-day USPTA Cardio Tennis National Feeding Shootout Championships wereheld at La Quinta during the USPTA World Conference. The final competition con-sisted of 20 participants who earned their spots by winning their division convention or by qualifying at

La Quinta. In the semifinals, Southern California’s Daniel Jauregui (left) shot a 68, breaking the national recordof 66. Jauregui moved into the final, where he beat Southern’s Daniel Leal by one point to become the cham-pion and take home $500 in prize money.

Growing Tennis News

Upcoming Schedule� Nov. 23: Cardio Tennis Workshop,

Rochester, N.Y.� Dec. 4-6: Athletic Business Confer-

ence & Expo, San Antonio, Texas� Dec. 7: USPTA Cardio Tennis Spe-

cialty Course, Rochester, N.Y.� Dec. 12-15: Intercollegiate Tennis

Association Coaches Convention,Naples, Fla.

Special Request Workshops: emailus at [email protected]

November/December 2008 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY 19Join the TIA . . . Increase Your Profits . . . Grow the Game . . . www.TennisIndustry.org

New Cardio Tennis Sites� Jonathanʼs Landing, Jupiter, FL� Santa Clara Tennis Center, Guaynabo,PR� Cameron Park Lake, Cameron Park, CA� Doral Park, Doral, FL� Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex,

Iowa City, IA� Gardinerʼs Resort, Carmel Valley, CA� San Diego Jewish Academy, San Diego, CA� Carmel Fitness & Racquet Club, Carmel,NY� Heritage Tennis Club, Arlington Heights, IL� Bill Reynoldsʼ Sports Park Tennis Center,

Bainbridge, GA� Nuestra Senora de La Merced, Cayey, PR� Marriott Marina Tennis Club, San Diego,CA� Complejo Recreativo Dr. Roque Nido,

Guayama, PR� Quail Hollow Swim and Tennis, Raleigh,NC

GrowingTennis.com—Generation 2 is Coming!

This one-stop site for providers to become involved with industry initiatives will soonbe upgraded, more streamlined and easier to use. Among other things, GrowingTen-nis.com is where you can register as an official site for Tennis Welcome Center, Car-

dio Tennis and QuickStart Tennis. Also, you can list all your programs and they will appearon consumer sites, including USTA.com, Tennis.com, TennisChannel.com and others.Once registered, all administrators/providers can manage their facility and programs

through the Growing Tennis System. A new feature is the addition of online registra-tion/administration for USTA’s No-Cut Tennis Coach and NRPA’s Tennis in the Parks pro-grams, with information on resources, expertise and grants available from participating agencies. Also, the latest news andinformation on initiatives from the TIA, USTA and industry partners is just a click away, and there are quick-links for easynavigation.Traffic from facilities/providers using the Growing Tennis System has increased 1000% over the last year, plus consumers

looking for places to play, programs to learn and player matching has jumped accordingly in the same time period. Free andlow-cost online registration and payment options also are available. For more information, call the TIA at 866-686-3036 oremail [email protected].

CT Player of the Month:Mike Woody

Three years ago, MikeWoody, executivedirector at the Midland

(Mich.) Community TennisCenter, was pushing 232 pounds and wasfrustrated with the way he looked. Heplayed tennis three hours a week but wasstill gaining weight. A few months laterhe attended the USPTA World Confer-ence and tried a Cardio Tennis class.After an hour of fun drills and play, hisheart-rate monitor told him he burned870 calories. “My first reaction was, ‘Noway!’” says Woody.Now, he’s lost more than 50 pounds

and burned 881,235 calories doing Car-dio Tennis. His goalis to burn a millioncalories by the endof the year.“My players

have been amazedat all the greathealth and gamebenefits Cardio

Tennis delivers,” says Woody.

Do you or someone youknow have what it takesto be Cardio Tennis Play-er of the Month? E-mailyour story to [email protected]. If yourstory is featured, you willwin a Cardio Tennis Sur-vival Kit.

20 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY November/December 2008 Join the TIA . . . Increase Your Profits . . . Grow the Game . . . www.TennisIndustry.org

QuickStart Tennis Is a Hit in New York

The 2008 USTA Tennis Teachers Conference, held in August in New York inconjunction with the US Open, featured many of the worlds' best speak-ers on bringing kids ages 10 and under into tennis. The QuickStart Tennis

play format was featured at the TTC and at the USTA Billie Jean King NationalTennis Center on certain days during the US Open. Children and their parentscould stop by an outer court set up with QST lines and nets, and supervised by teaching pros who taught the play for-mat to the kids, using shorter courts, shorter racquets, foam or low-pressure balls and modified scoring.Five-year-old Evan was attracted to the activity at the QST courts. “The coaches showed him the ropes,” said his

mother, Cecilia, “and before we knew it, he was popping the ball over. We are definitely going to get him a racquetand look into QuickStart programs in New Jersey.”Also on hand at the QST courts during the Open were USTA Executive Director Gordon Smith and former pros Mary Joe

Fernandez and MaliVai Washington.

T I A N E W S

Growing Tennis News

The QuickStart Tennis play for-mat is now being used at near-ly 1,000 official sites across thecountry, bringing 10-and-underkids into the game! Sign up now as an officialsite at partners.quickstarttennis.com

Setting up aQuickStartCourt is Easy

Check out the newvideo at part-ners.quickstartten-

nis.com about how easy andfast it is to set up both 36-and 60-foot QuickStart Tenniscourts at your facility. ProJorge Capestany offers helpfultips and gets the young stu-dents themselves involved,making the process painlessand inexpensive for pros.

Make QST Permanent at Your Facility!QuickStart Tennis courts are popping up all over the country, as pros and facilities realize thatpermanently lined courts are helping to drive interest in this revenue-generating play format forkids aged 10 and under. With permanently lined courts, youʼre not only able to put more stu-dents on a court at one time, but youʼll be creating—and growing—the next generation of ten-nis players. So far, there are about 120 permanent QST courts in the U.S. Join this growingtrend.� The Lexington County Tennis Complex in South Carolina recently added permanent

lines to some of its courts. The facility also is hosting its second QST tournament.� American Legion Tennis Center in Elizabethtown, Ky., painted permanent QST lines on

their courts.� Cotton Creek Club in Fort Worth, Texas, hosted a Kickoff Celebration in August for its

12 QST mini courts.� Spellerberg Park in Sioux Falls, S.D., built eight permanent QST courts.� Harrison Tennis Center in Atlanta recently started construction of six permanent QST

TWC of the Month: Homewood-Flossmoor Racquet and Fitness Club

The Homewood-Flossmoor Racquet and Fitness Club in Homewood, Ill., has a lot to be proud of. The club,which is 30 miles from Chicago, celebrates its 35th anniversary this year. This Park DistrictFacility, which features 10 indoor courts and a fitness center, lap pool, wellness center, and

conference room, has won numerous awardsover the years. Named a Top50 Tennis Welcome Center forthe past two years, H-F also isa two-time National Park &Recreation Association GoldMedal winner, a USTA Facilityof the Year, and USTA MemberOrganization of the Year.Homewood-Flossmoor

has been a Tennis WelcomeCenter since the program started in 2004. “We’ve always been afacility that has looked for something new to keep peoples’ inter-est or stimulate interest in the sport,” says Sylvia Gothard, H-F’sRacquet Sports Manager. “Having the TWC attached to our namemakes us feel we have to go that extra mile. We want to stay oneof the Top TWCs and we want to be a role model for the pro-gram.”With what seems like an unlimited number of programs and events that get people excited and involved

in the sport, it’s no wonder the facility has more then 3,800 family memberships. Their biggest event is the 10-day “Tenn-isfest,” which attracts more than 2,500 people.

New Tennis Welcome Centers� Racquet Club of Warren, Warren, NJ� Whitley Park, Bethesda, MD� Woodland Park, Moreno Valley, CA� Complejo Recreativo Dr. Roque Nido,

Guayama, PR� Quail Hollow Swim and Tennis, Raleigh, NC� Mountain Home Athletic Club,

Mountain Home, AR� Highland Recreation Complex, Largo, FL� Lake Oswego High School, Lake Oswego, OR� Ebenezer Park, Florence, SC� Veterans Park, Palm Bay, FL� Ernie Sheldon Park, Folsom, CA� Hendrix College, Conway, AR� Mills Parole Elementary School, Annapolis, MD

If you would like tobe highlighted as aTennis WelcomeCenter of theMonth, email [email protected] and tell us howyour club is leadingthe charge in thegrowth of the sport.

C A R E E R S I N T E N N I S

With the “graying” of industrypersonnel, leaders are worried thatthe tennis business isn’t attractingenough young talent.


Successful tennis players know how to anticipate what theiropponents will do. Will they move in to the net, hit down theline, lift a lob, sneak a drop shot?Successful tennis business people also need to anticipate: What

will be the next hot racquet, what will happen with recreationalparticipation, what tennis programs will yield the best returns,what will the future in general hold?

Now, many in the tennis industry are beginning to voice a con-cern about a potential problem ahead, one that could set back orbring to a halt gains that this sport has made in recent years.They’re worried that there aren’t enough younger people cominginto this business.

The most obvious clue is the so-called “graying” of tennisteaching pros. Many pros started in the 1970s and ’80s when ten-nis was booming and are now nearing retirement age. However,there aren’t sufficient, qualified younger people ready to move intothese spots. And the potential problem stretches beyond teaching-pro positions, to the many other jobs in this industry—such as cluband facility directors, sales reps, event managers, tennis organiza-

tional staff, etc.—that can benefit from an infusion of youth whoare passionate about the sport.

“While the industry has had positive momentum in both par-ticipation and sales, we need to look at the overall picture if we’regoing to improve the health of this sport for the long term,” saysJolyn de Boer, executive director of the TIA. “If you go to the vari-ous industry conventions and conferences, a lot—most—of thepeople involved are baby-boomers and older, not just in terms ofteaching pros, but in the industry itself. If we don’t prepare nowand recruit younger people into the business, it threatens our infra-structure and our delivery systems.” And some in the industryattribute a lack of adequate infrastructure to what contributed tothe slowdown in tennis following the boom years.

“We definitely are graying as an industry,” says Kurt Kamper-man, the USTA’s chief executive of Community Tennis. “I haven’tseen a lot of young professionals getting into the sport. We needto have a collaborative approach to this issue and make sure wecreate career paths in tennis for younger people and clearly com-municate that to them.”

B Y P E T E R F R A N C E S C O N I A N D M A R Y H E L E N S P R E C H E R

GENERATIONNEXT?GENERATIONNEXT?


A TRUE CAREER?“When I started in the business in 1980, tennis was in favor, andit was a really good profession to get into,” says Dave Haggerty,president and CEO of Head USA, president of the TIA and a boardmember with the USTA. “A lot of good pros got involved at thattime, and a lot of people got involved from a manufacturer per-spective.”

Now, though, many people, both young adults and their par-ents, think being a tennis pro is not a viable career; it’s a job—something to do during college, or after graduation and beforegetting a “real job.” Those in the industry say there is a lack ofunderstanding of all the different, and possibly lucrative, careerpaths within the tennis industry itself.

“Is there an image of a teaching pro just being a tennis bum?”asks Ajay Pant, national tennis director for Tennis Corporation ofAmerica and the general manager of the Midtown Tennis Club inOverland Park, Kan. “Oh, yes.”

The perception, adds Stephen J. “Pete” Petersen, director of theProfessional Tennis Management program at Methodist Universityin Fayetteville, N.C., is that, “People who want to be tennis pros—who just want to teach tennis—don’t have to have a college edu-cation.”

“Part of the problem we had at Ferris State was convincing par-ents that tennis was a real business,” says Tom Daglis, the formerdirector of the Ferris Professional Tennis Management programwho recently became director of tennis and fitness operations atLakewood Country Club in Rockville, Md. “They see you in yourtennis clothes and they aren’t convinced it’s a credible industry.We needed to teach them that this is a way to make a very, verygood living. This is a career path, and you can be very successful.

“My last year at Ferris,” adds Daglis, “we had some studentswho right out of college took jobs paying $55,000 a year. You com-pare that to other graduates who take jobs in marketing and aremaking $35,000 a year. We need to do a good job encouragingparents, and do a better job of promoting the career path.”

THE MONEY QUESTIONFeeding into the perception of tennis as not a “real” career, partic-ularly in the case of teaching pros, is the issue of pay. “If we goback to the early 1980s and you look at the pay rate for on-courtteaching, and then you look at today’s rate, you find that it simplyhas not kept pace with the cost of living,” says Pant.

Dan Santorum, CEO of the PTR, agrees: “Entry-level pay hasbeen fairly constant. What used to be a great job coming out of col-lege in the ’70s and early ’80s is just an average job now. It used

to be good money; now it’s average money.”“Tennis is such a great profession, but it’scertainly not easy to make a buck,” addsDoug Cash, former COO of Tennis Cor-poration of America who now runsCashFlow Tennis, a consulting busi-

ness. “The lower pay is not attractive.First-year teaching pros probably will

make $35,000 to $40,000, if they are verygood.”Santorum says he thinks entry-level teaching

pros should be making more like $45,000 to$50,000 a year. But some in the industry note that

it’s often hard to approach the issue of pay withoutaccurate data. It’s been many years since an accurate

salary survey of the tennis profession has been performed—or at least released within the industry. While industry insiderswere hesitant to be quoted on the matter, there is a feeling thatreleasing general compensation information may unintentionallyhurt salaries, especially in a struggling economy, by giving clubsand facilities data that they can point to as a reason to keep pay atthe same level or possibly lower it.

Kimm Ketelsen, program director of Tennis Tech, the profes-sional tennis management program at Tyler Junior College in Tyler,Texas, is direct about the problem: “The pay has to be better forassistant pros. If they’re not making a living, they’re not going tostay with it. We should not be paying assistants by the hour; weshould be paying them a percentage.”

“We need to set the pay up in such a way that a person under-stands he or she can make money,” says Billy Freer, director oftennis at Brookhaven Country Club in Dallas and the chairpersonof Club Corp.’s National Tennis Committee. “The trend is towardclubs fixing salaries for its pros; there are ceilings. That’s not some-thing a college graduate wants to see. What we need to say tosomeone coming in is, ‘Here’s what I’d like to pay you now, andhere’s what I’d like you to know you can make.’ It gives them anincentive.”

“The range of what [clubs] charge today is all over the map,”adds Cash. “I think it’s almost as much of a pricing problem thana compensation problem. Clubs don’t charge enough, so they’reafraid to increase their pay [to teaching pros]. To jump now to paythe right amount is difficult. I really believe [facilities] should beraising their prices more than they have in the past, and if youhave a quality product, people will pay for it. Money has to get upthere to be able to pay these people enough.”

“I think that what some clubs are saying is, ‘Why hire a gooddirector of tennis and pay all that? Why not just hire someone togive lessons, and then we can hire someone to do accounting?’”says Freer. “That does not make a tennis manager or a director oftennis. You want to have a pro who stays at the club a long time,but you’re not going to get that with a person who’s just there togive lessons. You have this revolving door, and it sends absolutelythe wrong message.”

QUALITY CONTROLMany say creating quality teaching pros is key to making the busi-ness attractive to a younger crowd. “You’re not going to change theminds of employers unless you’re able to present them with a


To monitor the progress of the “Careers in Tennis” initiative, and topost comments in an open forum, visit www.tennisindustrynews.org.

product—a tennis professional—who is the best and can demand abetter price,” says Tim Heckler, CEO of the USPTA.

Tennis pros need to be more than just on-court teachers. Theyneed a set of skills that allows them to be salespeople, businessmanagers, marketers and more. “If people are interested in movingup, they have to have an understanding of how a club works andhow the business works,” says Ketelsen.

“I encourage my pros to get involved with everything, includingbudgeting, maintenance, programming, scheduling, inventory, rac-quet stringing—everything,” says Fernando Velasco, the generalmanager and director of tennis at Circle C Tennis Club in Austin,Texas. “And all of my pros have to become certified within sixmonths of getting here.”

Adds Collin Cadwell, interim director of the Ferris State PTMprogram: “Our graduates are hired at entry-level positions, but with-in about two to three years, they are going from there to head pro,director of tennis. They’re able to move up because of the skills theyhave.”

Getting more colleges to offer professional tennis managementprograms is clearly on the radar for concerned industry insiders.“Overall, the golf industry has done a much better job of creating acareer path and of the professional management approach,” saysKamperman. “We’re not going to get colleges to offer PTM degreesright away. But they should look at offering certificates and othertraining.”

Kamperman says the tennis industry needs to have a presenceat job fairs and other career events, and to help with mentoringyoung hopefuls. “There’s no reason that this winter and spring wecan’t get a message in front of thousands of students playing highschool and college tennis about the career opportunities in the ten-nis industry,” he says. That will increase the pool not just for quali-fied young teaching pros, but for all positions.

COLLEGE TENNIS PLAYERSAppealing to college tennis players is important in bringing qualityyoung professionals with a passion for the sport into this industry.Students playing on varsity tennis teams in the U.S. are highlyprized, but the pool has been somewhat limited by the 15,000 to20,000 slots for players in this country. But helping to increase thatpool is the vastly successful USTA Tennis on Campus program.Started eight years ago, Tennis on Campus allows thousands ofplayers to join college club and intramural teams. Currently, thereare more than 450 club teams with more than 30,000 student-ath-letes involved.

The ToC program communicates frequently with its studentplayers throughout the country. And some of the student leaderswho started teams at their colleges are already going through theUSTA ranks in a volunteer capacity, says Glenn Arrington, theUSTA’s national manager for the program.

“They’re running these clubs and intramural teams them-selves,” he says, “and learning the basic skills that any tennis prowould want: event planning, sales and marketing, leadership,administration. For our program, we’re all about providing leader-ship opportunities for these students to move forward. We realizethat by positioning opportunities in front of them, the future mightlook bright for this industry.”

Santorum points to the PTR on Campus program as helping tobring younger people into the industry. The program offers dis-

counted PTR memberships and free workshops for young playerswho are good students and good players. The program also requiresthat students give 10 hours back in community service.

The USPTA, too, is hoping to bring youth into the industrythrough new programs and resources geared toward a younger gen-eration. “We’ve recently released five new programs, including atennis resource center, built along the lines of YouTube,” saysHeckler.

ELEVATING THE PROFESSIONWhether due to low salaries, a “tennis bum” perception or the ideathat teaching tennis is a job, not a career, there is a need to raise thestatus of teaching pros and others in this industry.

“To be taken seriously, young professionals need a sense ofpride in the business,” says Peter Burwash, founder and presidentof Peter Burwash International, a tennis management company.“Right now, our standards [in the industry] are so bad.”

Burwash, who since founding PBI in 1975 has personally inter-viewed more than 10,500 pros to run tennis programs at high-endresorts throughout the world, says many young people show up ininterviews “dressed like slobs,” which perpetuates a poor image ofthe industry.

“For a long time, we’ve been trying to figure out how to help ele-vate the tennis pro,” says the TIA’s de Boer. She adds that the TIAhas been working with a marketing group to help “put more focuson the teaching pro in the media, to emphasize the attractiveness ofthe tennis teaching profession and the important role pros play asthe first stop in the tennis delivery system.”

But beyond that, the TIA is hoping to coordinate an industry-wide effort to both attract more young talent into the business andto create more lucrative and stable job opportunities in the industry.One tactic will be a new website, www.careersintennis.com, slatedfor a “soft” launch in mid-December, in time for the IntercollegiateTennis Association convention. The site will allow companies, clubs,resorts and others with positions available to post them for free.

Other strategies involve reaching out to high school and collegeplayers through coaches and the Tennis on Campus program, andeducating executives in the club, resort and park industries on thelong-term benefits of hiring and retaining top tennis pros. Alsoimportant is starting more professional tennis management pro-grams at the college level to churn out qualified young industryleaders.

“This will be one of the most important initiatives this industryhas launched,” says de Boer. “While the efforts will be far-reachingand a permanent part of our core mission, it will take many yearsbefore all of our collective resources see the first wave of change.”

“We have an opportunity to put in front of these students theidea, and the reality, that tennis is a lucrative, fulfilling career thathas a lot of positive aspects, such as helping others, a healthylifestyle and more,” says Kamperman. “We have a great story totell.”

Adds Daglis: “There’s the old saying that if you enjoy what youdo, you’ll never have to work a day in your life, and I think that’sreally true about tennis. It’s a great opportunity to work with peopleand to be around people, and to really enjoy your job.” �

As overall economicuncertainty continues,increasing tennisparticipation may be thebright spot that sees thisindustry through thehard times.


By most measures, it’s pretty clear that the party’s over. Highoil, commodity and food prices, falling home prices, andtighter credit are wreaking havoc. The shocking U.S. econom-

ic stumbles are the worst since the Great Depression.And while average Americans are waiting to see if the massive

$700 billion bailout package passed in early October to help shoreup the country’s financial system will trickle down to the thingsthat are important—and essential—to them, in most sectors, peo-

ple are still cutting back.But, strange as it may seem, in

the tennis business there is a brightspot. Tennis participation, whichstarted turning upward a few yearsago, is continuing to rise. In fact,many in this industry are extremelyoptimistic that while money and cred-it may be tight for some time tocome, people will still be playing ten-

nis—and participation will continue to increase.“I don’t see the economy [negatively] affecting participation at

all,” says Dan Santorum, CEO of the PTR. “Leagues are going crazy

right now. I’ve only had one phone call from someone who’s saidhis business is down. I think tennis generally is one of those reces-sion-proof sports.”

“The feedback is that facilities are pretty healthy,” adds Jolynde Boer, executive director of the TIA. “There’s no issue there withpeople not playing.”

“In the past, recessions have generally helped the game,” saysTim Heckler, CEO of the USPTA. “People take less vacations andstay at home and play.”

And that seems to be what’s happening. “We’re rocking androlling,” says Pat Decker, owner of the Middlebury (Conn.) RacquetClub. “A lot of people are looking at their budgets and wonderingwhere they want to spend their money. Thankfully, they’re choos-ing health and fitness, and also staying close to home.”

Decker says memberships and season courts are up from lastyear. “We have record numbers of kids involved in Junior TeamTennis, and we’re struggling to fit them all in,” she adds.

“Our membership is at an all-time high,” says Robert Fisher,director of tennis at the Germantown Cricket Club in Philadelphia.“It’s up 20 percent. Our pro shop, everything, is strong. We’re fill-ing courts every afternoon.”

B Y P E T E R F R A N C E S C O N I

MAJORPLAYERSMAJORPLAYERS

The Tennis EconomyOn the following pages, we examinewhat the economy will mean for:� Court Construction, page 28� Racquets, page 30� Tennis Balls, page 32� Apparel and Footwear, page 34


Likewise, Fernando Velasco, general manager and director oftennis at the Circle C Tennis Club in Austin, Texas, is seeing “asurge in membership.” He particularly points to the popularity ofleague play. “The USTA leagues are the greatest thing,” he says.“People love them.”

Club members, adds Velasco, already feel vested in their mem-bership and are more likely to want to take advantage of it than todrop it. They may cut back on big family vacations, he notes, butthey’ll find activities they can participate in together, includingtennis.

“It’s a lot like war times when people were looking for familyentertainment and bowling alleys became very popular,” Velascosays. “This was back in the ’40s and’50s—it was a booming industry. Peo-ple wanted something inexpensive forthe family to do, for young people todo, so everyone went bowling. Tennisis like that.”

The sport, adds Kurt Kamperman,chief executive of Community Tennisfor the USTA, “is well-positioned tohold up” in this economy. “It’s not anexpensive sport, and the time elementfavors tennis. Compared to the compe-tition, we’re positioned to fare prettywell. There’s no question it will impactsome things, like racquet sales, butwhile they’ve been great the last fewyears, it’s not necessarily a direct linkto how many people are playing.”

THE DOWN SIDEAs Kamperman suggests, not every-thing is rosy. Many expect pro shopsales to slide as money and credit con-tinue to tighten up, and while manycourt-building projects were put inmotion during happier economictimes, the current financial slowdownwill eventually catch up in construction.

“We didn’t know there was going tobe a recession back when we were buy-ing our merchandise for the pro shop,and I’m seeing a 10 percent drop over last year,” says Billy Freer,director of tennis at Brookhaven Country Club in Dallas.

“Heaven knows what will happen in the pro shop,” adds Deck-er. “I’m trying to be guarded about loading up on stuff there.”

“Folks are a little more cautious,” notes Velasco. “They mightbe getting a racquet restrung instead of buying a new one, or theymight be letting their shoes last a little longer.”

“What we’re seeing business in is maintenance,” says Freer,“things such as racquet stringing. If they break a string, they haveto get that racquet restrung if they want to keep playing. If theirshoes wear out, and they want to keep playing, they need to buynew shoes. But the new shirt hanging on the wall of the shop? Theymight want it, but they don’t need it.”

The jury is still out on lesson income, too. While some prosmentioned that lessons at their facilities were going strong

(“Almost every pro I’ve talked to says lessons are good,” says DougCash, who runs the consulting business CashFlow Tennis), othersweren’t so sure how that would play out in coming months.

Also unclear is what the job picture will look like. With partici-pation increasing, the need for more personnel on court wouldseem to be a necessary part of making sure players, particularlynew participants, are receiving quality instruction and guidance.But will facilities, clubs and parks have the money to hire moreteaching pros?

PULLING TOGETHEROne thing that many industry insiders appear to agree on is that

bringing together groups within theindustry—manufacturers, teachingpros, parks, facilities, clubs, the USTA,and more—will help tennis weatherthe economic storm that faces the restof the country.

“The companies and all the keyshareholders in the industry have beenworking together for 10 years, puttingmoney into growing the sport,” saysDave Haggerty, president and CEO ofHead USA and the current TIA presi-dent. “There’s been lots of efforts tokeep tennis visible and in favor in theU.S. market. I think now is when weshould outperform the market.”

“More than ever, we need the man-ufacturers, TIA, and USTA to continueto work closely together,” says JonMuir, general manager of Wilson Rac-quet Sports and in January, the newpresident of the TIA. “It's even morecritical now to be even more aligned inpromoting the sport. When the stormhits, that's when we all need to bemore open to helping each other toensure the next two to three yearsremain healthy.”

Thankfully, the sport appears tohave solid programs that are helping tomaintain participation, including the

new QuickStart Tennis format for bringing kids into the game.QuickStart also can help teaching pros in these challenging eco-nomic times—while it’s a relatively inexpensive program for par-ents, it can maximize revenue for pros by putting more kids onone court at one time.

Other key programs spearheaded by the USTA include No-CutSchool Tennis Teams and USTA Tennis on Campus—both of whichare bringing and keeping students in tennis by the thousands.Also, industry-wide programs such as Cardio Tennis and the Ten-nis Welcome Center effort appear to be doing well.

In the end, though, it may just be the intangibles that will helpsee this sport through. When the economy is bad, when financesare uncertain, says Tom Daglis, director of tennis and fitness oper-ations at Lakewood Country Club in Rockville, Md., “People needthat happy place to go to.” �

Memo to Clubs:Keep Those MembersIn tough economic times, it’s easier to keep the mem-bers you have than to recruit new ones. Tips fromthose in the industry:� Good times: “We make it fun for people here, we

make them happy, make them laugh, make themfeel good about their game and about themselves. Ifyou have a bad experience somewhere, you mightnot go back and you might tell other people not togo there. But we give them a reason to come back,”says Fernando Velasco of Circle C Tennis Club.

� Good facilities: “If you haven’t spent the moneyto fix or improve your courts, members are turnedoff. We’re seeing people trying everything to main-tain what they have so that they don’t risk losingmembers. In our area, if clubs want to keep mem-bers, they must keep everything up,” says RandyFutty of Lee Tennis.

� Good memories: “We strive for diversity of pro-gramming, personalization of programming, makingsure every member has a sense of identity. We wantto know what they’re trying to work for. We try tomake sure each member has a great experience,relating that to a sense of community,” says RobertFisher of Germantown Cricket Club.

Spiraling costs mean thatsuppliers, contractorsand clients can expect tofeel the pinch.


There are bull markets. There are bear markets. Then there’s thetennis market, which is a different animal entirely. It would beeasy (and logical) to assume that a tough economy has a domi-

no effect, knocking down club memberships and participation incamps, leagues and public recreation and parks programming, andin turn leading to a decrease in tennis court contractors’ business-es, and to decreased sales of materials.

But the equation isn’t necessarily working that way. Certainly,the economy has caused a plethora of problems. Skyrocketingcosts for all things oil-based (fuel, asphalt and rubber, three keycomponents in the tennis-court construction and supply industry)and metal-based (fencing, net posts, cabling, etc.) have led to anunpredictable and perilous season for contractors and suppliers. Inmany cases, it has caused even longtime members of the industryto use guesswork in pricing out jobs.

“Asphalt, chain link fence and acrylic coating prices have beenrising at unusual rates all year,” says Lee Murray of CompetitionAthletic Surfaces Inc. in Chattanooga, Tenn. “This poses a problemfor us when quoting prices to potential customers. For customerswho are planning work to be done in 2009 or 2010, we are forcedto anticipate rising prices and quote high numbers.”

But the things that might be directly affecting other indus-tries—loss of jobs, budget cutbacks and general uncertainty—haven’t as yet been much of a factor for those building tenniscourts, thanks in part to the nature of the industry. Because manylarge jobs, such as those involving tennis courts belonging tomunicipalities, come out of capital funding, and because that fund-ing is already in place, the court construction industry has beengenerally slow to respond to the economic climate.

All this, of course, could change dramatically. As financial hous-

es have fallen on Wall Street and credit is uncertain at best, spend-ing for tennis courts may well take a hit.

“In my 30-plus years in the business, we have always laggedbehind other industries in feeling the effects of a slowdown,” saysJohn Welborn of Charlottesville, Va.-based Lee Tennis, whichmakes the Har-Tru surface. “The long sales and planning cycle ofnew construction account for some of this, and based on history,we are just now feeling what others felt several months back.”

“The recent Wall Street and credit crises have not yet been asevident this year as we'd initially feared, as most projects werescheduled months or years in advance,” says Tom Magner, East-ern regional manager for DecoTurf. “But most contractors I speakwith are very concerned about the next couple of seasons andwhere we are headed as an industry.”

COURT ACTIVITYIn fact, if anything, at least some types of clients seem immune tothe recession, according to George Todd Jr., whose company,Welch Tennis Courts in Sun City, Fla., has not seen a downturn inprojects for municipalities and clubs.

“Sometimes in a down economy, people stay close to homeand actually spend more at their home club which can, at least inthe short term, make the club economy counter-cyclical,” saysTodd.

It’s a point of agreement among club officials. Both RobertFisher, director of tennis at Germantown Cricket Club in Philadel-phia, and Fernando Velasco, general manager and director of ten-nis at Circle C Tennis Club in Austin, Texas, say members arecoming in, rather than dropping out. The sport’s return topopularity and its continued growth has led to a need to

B Y M A R Y H E L E N S P R E C H E R

UNSTABLEBUILDING?UNSTABLEBUILDING?


maintain and improve existing tennis facilities.“In our business, when you want your clientele to stick around,

you make sure they have good courts. The greatest commitmentswe have are to the courts themselves, and to keeping the staff avail-able and attentive,” says Fisher. “If the courts and staff aren’t up topar, then we’re not going to have the successwe desire.”

“Folks are staying closer to home, thatmuch we know,” says Virgil Christian, direc-tor of community tennis development at theUSTA. “What I hear from tennis providers Ihave spoken with is their camp and lessonbusiness is strong. It will be a while until wehave the data on this, but my assessment isfamilies are keeping it simple and thatincludes participating in activities nearby.USTA membership is at an all-time high,which tells me players are playing in leaguesand probably enjoying their tennis facilitiesand clubs.”

For Monica Christiansen, the superinten-dent of recreational facilities in the NewportNews, Va., Department of Parks, Recreationand Tourism, the economy has been a fac-tor, but has not impacted the tennis courtsthemselves.

“In our city, as far as resurfacing goes,those projects are part of our capitalimprovements, and we haven’t seen anychanges yet,” says Christiansen. “What wehave put in place this year are changes to ouroperational hours and our staffing.

“We’ve scaled back—we’ve looked atwhat programming we have in place andhow it can be changed,” she continues. “Forexample, we used to be open 3 to 10 p.m. atour main tennis facility for our classes andleagues. Now, we’re open 4 to 9 p.m. Wherewe typically would have two instructors, wenow have one person staffing the building.”

AVOIDING TRICKLE-DOWNSome aspects of the industry, however, arefeeling the pinch. Suppliers of materials arehurting, courtesy of those rising costs, andmany are reluctant to pass on the problems, particularly to long-time clients.

“Every raw material we use in our formulas to manufactureacrylic tennis coatings has increased in price over the last sixmonths,” says Bill Righter of Nova Sports, USA in Milford, Mass.“Many ingredients have increased in price on a monthly basis. Wehave never seen anything like this before. Shipping costs have alsoincreased substantially. We realize that many of our customers’ cur-rent work is from jobs they priced out many months ago. It wouldnot be fair to our customers to keep raising our prices, so we haveabsorbed a lot of the increases.”

“I think some of the major suppliers are trying to work with usby doing things like allowing us to order in advance and taking pur-chase orders in advance so that we can take advantage of current

pricing,” says David R. Nielsen of Leslie Coatings in Indianapolis.“In some cases, we’ve had to order full truckloads of material early.Cash really does become an issue and fuel has been crazy, as every-one knows. We knew prices were going to get higher last fall, buton things like latex, the increases have been really, really severe. All

we can do is put our heads down and goforward.”

“I think it's going to become the normfor sport-court builders to insert ‘cost esca-lation’ clauses in their contracts, so theydon't end up losing money on bids wonmonths earlier,” adds Deco’s Magner.

Builders and suppliers have becomeadaptive, not only to changing economictimes, but to the sensitivities of their clients.

“We continue to recycle many rawmaterials for some of our products to pro-vide green systems and to keep our costs incheck,” says Rick Burke of NGI Sports inChattanooga, Tenn. “As many of our sur-faces are replacement demolition, and forasphalt paving we consume less energy andoil-based materials, so we are seeing anincrease in business during this time.”

THE FIX IS INInevitably, there are going to be some mar-kets, say builders, in which customers wantto save money by employing stopgap fixes.It might be a residential court where a ner-vous homeowner is trying some belt-tight-ening, a club anticipating an off-season or amunicipality that hasn’t budgeted for majortennis court work. In those cases, repairingcracks on a court might appeal more.

Ellen Brattlof of Armor Crack RepairSystem in Farmingdale, N.J., has seenexplosive growth of requests for her com-pany’s product over the past year, and shesays she expects that growth to continue.

“Faced with crack repair or ripping outa court, people prefer to repair cracks,”says Brattlof. “It does save money, butthere’s a breaking point, generally about500 feet of crack per court. Not every court

is eligible, but a majority of them are.”But if there’s one thing that is certain, says Randy Futty of Lee

Tennis, it’s this: Uncertain times don’t last forever. Even for tenniscourt builders and suppliers.

“We may be late going into the economic downturn and latecoming into the economic recovery,” says Futty. “The last two tothree years have been a downturn, with the end of 2006 being thetime the downturn really started. So now we’re in year two. By2010, I’m hoping it starts to loosen up, maybe by the middle of2010. Then we should have a nice five- to seven-year recovery run.

“Really, from 1998 to 2006, we had an unprecedented bull of amarket. When you have such a run-up, you’re due for a correction.This is a correction. And eventually, a nice sustained good periodwould be nice.” �

Memo to Builders:Discourage‘Do-It-Yourselfers’What you don’t want: Penny-wise andpound-foolish measures like a residentialcourt owner who uses a tube of drivewaycrack-filler on his home court—then finds itcan ruin the surface. How to encourage pro-fessional repairs?

� Convince clients of the skill neces-sary: “Tennis courts are such a special-ized business that most people have littleexperience,” says David Marsden ofBoston Tennis Court Construction,Hanover, Mass.

� Convince them to act quickly:“Owners should understand that they arepreserving, protecting, and maintaining acapital asset; much like roof repair—putting off timely court resurfacing andmaintenance is very short-sighted,” saysGeorge Todd Jr. of Welch Tennis Courts.

� Convince park and rec depart-ments to use grants or specialfunding for repairs, rather than togo with an unskilled employee: “Insome cases, work is done by other divi-sions of the city, and they don’t necessari-ly do the best job; it’s just not skilledlabor,” says Tim Almaguer of Friends ofPatterson Park, a municipal facility in Bal-timore, Md., which is trying to build on itscurrent tennis program. “We’ll go straightto a vetted contractor before we’ll call insomeone from the city.”

As costs to produceracquets continue to rise,expect to see retail prices

head higher, too.


The tumultuous economic situation has everybody worried. Buthow is it affecting racquet manufacturers and equipmentretailers?“We're trying to do more with less, and double- and triple-

checking that all our expenses are absolutely necessary,” saysKevin Kempin, vice president of sales and marketing forHead/Penn. “But there's only so much you can do. This economyis something we’re going to be living with for a long time, but ourhope is that we won't be living with it at this level for too long.”“From our perspective, the health of retailers is the No. 1 thing

when economic times are challenging,” says Jon Muir, generalmanager of Wilson Racquet Sports. “We need to make sure ourretailer base—the specialty dealers, the shops, the grassroots—thatthose people feel they can weather the storm and are in a positionto maintain their vitality. If we lose retailers, that has a big impactnot just for us, but for a community. If one goes down, you losesome business in the area, and you also lose a touch point for peo-ple playing the sport.”“The bottom line is, the economy is obviously compacting all

of our margins,” says Kempin. “We’re all getting squeezed thisyear and that squeeze comes from energy costs, a big one. Butbeyond that, the basic costs of raw materials have skyrocketedover the last 24 months.”Many manufacturers echoed the fact that rising costs across

the board will either cut into margins or prompt an increase inprices. But, odd as it sounds, the up side is that recent racquet salesfigures are flat, not necessarily down, says John Embree, presidentof Prince Americas.“Almost all the pro shops have mentioned that their participa-

tion was up, that consumers are still paying for lessons and events,but their pro shop sales were flat to down, hard goods were flatand there was a softening on apparel, which makes sense,”Embree says. “They may not be buying the next tennis outfit, butbuying a new racquet might be an easier sell.”“Business itself has been up and down, with one really good

month and then a slower month,” says Chuck Vietmeier, productmanager at Gamma. “But it's also regional, especially areas thathave been hit hard by the real-estate market.”Tightening belts is the reality for now, adds Kempin. “We mon-

itor the price of materials per pound daily, and if we notice a down-ward trend, we're out trying to buy futures,” he says.

THE CHINA SYNDROMEAs China steps into its role a major player in the global economy,it's also appearing to be less and less appealing to manufacturersfacing a whole new business reality and burgeoning productioncosts.Sourcing products and raw materials in China is the norm for

B Y M I T C H R U S T A D

HITTINGTHE

NUMBERS

HITTINGTHE

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many racquet manufacturers, but the devalued American dollardue to Chinese government mandates is hurting the manufactur-er's bottom line, says Kempin. “The U.S. dollar's devaluation ver-sus Chinese currency means we're paying more and actuallygetting less.”Besides a shrinking dollar, Chinese labor laws have changed—

leading to increased wages, adding holiday pay, etc.—therefore itaffects the overall costs above and beyond freight increases,Embree adds. “If China continues to escalate pricing, we have tostart looking at some other countries, build factories in othercountries where labor laws might be more favorable,” he says.The rising cost of materials is not lost on the manufacturers,

either. Kempin notes that in the last 24 months, essential racquetcomponents such as carbon fiber have increased 120 percent,while material such as aluminum tubing has gone up 50 percent.“It's a shock,” he says, “and you're going to see higher prices

next year. We're not passing all those costs on to our dealers, butthe consumer is still going to see higher prices, that's the endresult, probably as early as the holiday season this year.”But rising fuel prices hurt manufacturers well beyond the ris-

ing costs of importing product; any manufacturer with a sizablesales force has seen travel expense go through the roof as well,says Vietmeier.“We have a sales rep force of 20, and they all have to travel,

and with gas near $4 a gallon, it makes it more difficult to goaround in person and get orders,” says Vietmeier. “That's beenthe biggest problem for us all year, the rising cost of fuel. And thatalso may inhibit the tennis-playing consumer—if it costs $70 to filltheir gas tank every week, they may not want to spend money ona new tennis racquet.“The possibility is that everyone will raise their prices next

year, depending on the price of fuel,” Vietmeier adds. We'll prob-ably have to raise our prices for next year.”

PASSING ON THE COSTThe reality of rising prices is settling in industry-wide, saysEmbree. “All the people in the industry know that they're gettingprice increases, so they've been expecting that from us. But thechallenge for the retailer becomes, do we have to take our pricesup? Some will agree to a price increase, and others won't.”Deborah Standifer, owner of Player's Choice Tennis in Birm-

ingham, Ala., says while she's already seeing her prices rise, fornow she's standing firm on passing on those rising prices to hercustomers.“It's already started happening,” she says. “A few of the man-

ufacturers sent us nice letters, saying we've been absorbing costsas long as we can, and some just raised their prices. Our priceshaven't changed yet. For now we're just absorbing costs. Shippingcosts have double and tripled, and we're not charging more. Notyet.”Mark Mason, owner of Mason's Tennis Mart in New York City,

cautioned manufacturers on a prospective rise in prices: “Every-one has to make their margins and I don't think they will raisetheir prices,” he says. “If you start raising prices on popular rac-quets, that will create a real problem. In this environment, wehave to maintain our price points.”According to Embree, it's not a matter of if prices will go up,

but judiciously deciding which products can best absorb anincrease. “We have to make some smart decisions about wherewe can raise prices and where we can't,” he says. “If you're tra-ditionally selling a frame for $19.99 at Wal-Mart or Target,who love that price line, can you go up to $21.99? Probably not.We've got genuine concerns because we're getting squeezed inthe middle.”Adds Embree: “Going from $189 to $199 is not that much of

a jump, but you can't go to $209 because then it's lost. Those arethe things we're trying to wrestle with.”But one retailer sees the prospect of a slight bump in prices in

perspective. “Nobody likes to see prices rise, and I don't want tohave to do that, but everything else in the world has gone upexcept tennis products,” says Chris Gaudreau, owner of RacquetKoop in New Haven, Conn. “Twenty years ago I was paying 99cents for a gallon of gas, but I still paid $200 for a tennis racquet.“So it goes up a little bit, that's the world right now.”But just how high will racquet prices go? Kempin expects to

see mid-single-digits to double-digit price-percentage increases,with long-established price points like $199 for a racquet or $1.99for a can of balls a distant memory. “Those days will be gone nextyear,” he says.

LOOKING AHEADIt may be an overused term, but “cautious optimism” is the moodas the manufacturer's look to a new year.“I'm more optimistic than pessimistic,” says Kempin. “This is

the worst subject we can talk about, because tennis as a whole iscertainly bucking national trends as far as growth. We have atremendous infrastructure with the TIA, teaching pro associations,USTA, and these grassroots programs have really paid off. We'vehad four to five years of solid growth, and this year the industryis flat, but that's a win right now. Virtually every other industry isgoing in the wrong direction.”What can racquet manufacturers do besides hunker down and

wait for a brighter economic picture? “One way to help retailers isto make sure we continue to develop compelling product that willget customers into the stores,” says Wilson’s Muir.“The retailers so often say they want us to retain our technol-

ogy for longer periods of time,” Embree says, “but the consumerwants new product—18 months is the lifecycle of new technolo-gy, so to stimulate the marketplace you need new introductions,”he says. “If we don't create that excitement our competition will.”Jean Louis Boyre, president of Babolat VS North America, also

is looking to new technologies that could help keep bloating costsunder control, which is Babolat's focus in 2009. “We need tomake sure that we contain the manufacturing price increase asmuch as we can,” he says. “This might help push R&D people tolook at some new technologies that could be more cost-effective.”But even as the U.S. and much of the world face historically

challenging economic times, the industry can take heart in thehaven millions of avid players find between the boundaries of atennis court.“I always thought tennis was a recession-proof sport, and peo-

ple won't ever stop playing tennis,” says Gaudreau. “In fact, theymay just skip that vacation or other purchases and play evenmore tennis. My customers won't stop playing tennis.” �

With materials, labor and shipping all undergoingdramatic cost increases, are we looking at risingtennis ball prices?


It took nearly 100 years for the ITF to authorize play with tennisballs covered in yellow felt, departing from the long tradition ofwhite tennis balls.Tradition, however, seems to be a part of consumer attitudes

toward ball pricing. Ask most players what they’d consider payingfor a can of balls, and the answers most likely will not go higherthan $3, and often much less.

From a ball manufacturer and retailer perspective, it seemsthat ball prices will have to rise at some point, if nothing else justto cover costs. The rubber core of tennis balls is petroleum derived,the felt cover includes petro-based polyesters, and the packaging isplastic and shipped on vehicles using gasoline. While petroleumprices are most prominent in their rise, everything from man-hours to materials to machines that go into making a tennis ballhas increased in price—often dramatically when compared tothree decades ago.

But ball prices for consumers have generally remained thesame. Has any other price gone nowhere for so long?

The biggest challenge, according to Jason Collins, Wilson’sglobal business director of tennis balls, is one of perception. "[Theball] is round and yellow,” he says. “Most people believe, ‘Howhard can it be to make?’ People are not aware how difficult it is toproduce a tennis ball."

"I wish every consumer who feels $2 a can is the right price fora tennis ball could walk through one of these factories and see themachinery and see the people and see what goes into making oneof these balls," says Hunter Hines, Dunlop's racquet sports region-al manager. "It will blow your mind. You'll wonder why you're notpaying $15."

"You can try and squeak out the efficiencies [in manufactur-ing]," adds Collins, "but at some point there are no efficiencies leftto be had. We don't want to have tennis balls as a loss leader—it’snot a good business model now."

PRICE BARRIERSClothing has its style as a price driver and with tennis racquetsplayers can feel technology in their swing. While golfers regularlypay $50-plus for a dozen golf balls compared to $8, they do so forgame improvement—they can see their drives go farther orstraighter. In tennis the same balls are used by opposing players,and since all have to meet the same ITF specifications, retailersusually find themselves competing on the basis of price or risk cus-tomer drift.

According to John Swetka, owner of Swetka’s Tennis Shop inMountain View, Calif., some people are attracted to premium balls,but the majority view them as a commodity. They'll say, "Oh mygosh, $2.77 for a can of [premium] balls. I'll just get the $1.99."

And that's the price at which chain sporting goods and big-boxretailers have been holding, an area of contention for many proand specialty shops. Manufacturers have been taking a number ofdifferent approaches to salve their bottom line on balls, includingtweaking the terms of buying programs and reducing the opportu-nities for free shipping. The result is often an effective increase inthe wholesale cost that does not hit all retailers equally.

As one specialty retailer requesting anonymity said, "How doesSports Authority charge $2.19 for a can that I am being charged$2.25 for?"

Interestingly, Swetka offered an experience that suggested thatperhaps some of the concern over price may be a bit overblown ina world of $4 lattes and people driving alone in their SUVs. Hisstore ran a 10-day promotion selling balls at $1.89 a can that didnot produce the increase in traffic or sales one would expect ifplayers really were counting all their pennies when buying balls.

The concern of how much prices can rise remains. As JenniferParker, business manager for Head/Penn Racquet Sports, puts it,"We expect retail pricing to rise in the near future, but due to thedisposable nature and high volume of tennis balls, we also expect

B Y K E N T O S W A L D

PLAYINGBALLPLAYINGBALLWith materials, labor and shipping all undergoingdramatic cost increases, are we looking at risingtennis ball prices?


[manufacturer and retailer] margins to remain relatively slim com-pared to many other sporting goods products."

Not that there needs to be more uncertainty, but like Swetka'spricing experiment, TIA research does not indicate a more or lessprobable consumer reaction to the price increases.

BALL SALES = PARTICIPATIONThe general consensus is that ball sales equate to participation. TIAstats show a 15 percent increase in ball shipments between 2003and 2007 to 130.6 million units, as well as a similar increase in fre-quent player participation. (For the first part of 2008, sales seemto have held steady compared to 2007.) In those same four years,total participation is up only 4.6 percent—although the more than25 million players is the highest count since 1999. Racquet salesrose more than 42 percent and string sales 6 percent, again sug-gesting that consumers respond to what they are more convincedhelps their game.

"Tennis ball sales are an ongoing struggle of margin versus rawdollars—a commodity we have to carry," says Steve Vorhaus,owner of Rocky Mountain Racquet Specialists in Boulder, Colo. Heonce offered every high-end ball on the market, but found that acertain cannibalization of sales occurred. He says he was able tosatisfy his different customer groups by representing the differentmanufacturers, but not necessarily with their entire ball lines.

While certain customers are loyal to a particular ball or specif-ic brand, most customers apparently do not perceive the differ-ence. Vorhaus says he has been able to inch up pricing oncans—and increased his sales volume by adding more institution-al sales and selling cases at 10 percent off to individuals.

Head/Penn’s Parker says she’s seeing a trend in the last five

years “to larger configurations, packs of tennis balls. Consumershave become more likely to buy in bulk rather than single cans, sowe have seen an increase in pack sales."

But Vorhaus is concerned about the industry's lack of effec-tiveness in educating the consumer on the quality of the product:"Since time immemorial, tennis balls have been a low-marginitem,” he says. “We have to be price competitive [but] the strugglefor those of us who have established a higher baseline is howmuchhigher can we push the baseline?"

"A few years back we saw tennis ball pricing start to increase,"says Jay Simmons, now at Prince as the senior category managerbut a longtime veteran of Penn and its tennis ball operations."Then [prices] went down. Some large retailers out there specifylowest pricing and they felt they needed to cut back."

While some products are able to maintain lower prices byreplacing materials with ones of similar quality, Simmons, amongothers, does not see that as a possibility, saying he "can't imagineany materials" that will replace the current felts or core materialsmaking up an ITF-approvable product.

So prices most likely will have to rise, and the industry, with noproven way to explain the cost increase to the consumer, is pin-ning its hopes for more sales on the current trends of increasedparticipation, as well as programs like the USTA's QuickStart Ten-nis format and the ITF's "Play and Stay" to keep adding playerswho need tennis balls.

And there is also always inertia (and the attraction of the game)to base one's hopes on: "People will get used to spending more,"says Swetka. "[They] didn't stop driving from the price increasesto gas. Tennis balls going to $2.29 or $2.45 isn't going to keepthem from playing tennis." �

While soft-goods dealers are optimistic, uncertaintimes are forcing some changes in how they dobusiness.


For apparel and footwear dealers, uncertain economictimes are challenging in many ways. Will your players startcutting back on or delaying tennis apparel and tennis shoe

purchases? Will you have the credit you need to stock yourshop properly, or expand your storage area? What should yourstrategy be when ordering product?

The good news for retailers, at least for now, is that tennisparticipation still seems to be on the upswing, and players, forthe most part, still appear to be buying.

“If the influx of new people over the summer is an indica-tion of what’s to come, then we’re expecting another greatyear,” says Michael Lynne of Michael Lynne’s Tennis Shop inMinneapolis. Lynne says that while people are concernedabout what will happen next with the economy, “They don’tseem concerned about buying tennis supplies.”

At Racquet World in Miami, owner Leon Echevarriaagrees, and while he’s wary of what may happen on WallStreet, he remains optimistic. Business, he says, has beenincreasing monthly, both at the retail store and on his website,where sales have been brisk. But, he adds, “It doesn’t meanthat business will be good for everyone.”

For instance, in Atlanta, Coach Matt’s Tennis ownerTiffany Grayson says the economy and fuel shortages in thearea are already impacting her business. And the suddennessof it all took many by surprise, demanding quick action andsavvy decision-making. Grayson says she’s finding that, “Peo-ple will replace worn-out shoes, but they are willing to foregoapparel purchases right now.”

Chris Miller, the marketing director for the Austin-basedGolfsmith retail chain, says the tennis business has not slowedfor his company, and in fact continues to grow more than thegolf business. Golfsmith will soon open its 73rd store (in PalmDesert, Calif., which will include a full-size indoor tenniscourt); 58 of their stores have a tennis department.

“While we maintain a conservative approach,” says Miller,“we don’t plan on any major cuts, and so far we’ve beenpleasantly surprised.” He says despite the economic situation,Golfsmith doesn’t foresee changing its strategy: “We don’tcarry superfluous lines in apparel, footwear or racquets inorder to rationalize merchandise.” But, he adds, “Managinginventory is crucial to accommodating your apparel andshoes.”

B Y C Y N T H I A S H E R M A N

A SOFTENINGMARKET?A SOFTENINGMARKET?While soft-goods dealers are optimistic, uncertaintimes are forcing some changes in how they dobusiness.


WHAT TO STOCK?Echevarria suggests that for smaller retailers,who really need to watch their inventory andbottom line, “A safe bet is to stick to provenbrands—ones that have been around for a longtime. The smaller companies may have attrac-tive product lines, but they might be seeingmore risk in the coming months.”

Bigger shoe and apparel manufacturers aremarketing their brands much more aggressive-ly and are offering attractive sales incentives,says Echevarria, and he thinks there could besome fallout and consolidation with some ofthe smaller makers in soft goods.

Grayson advises caution when ordering.“I've cut back my ‘futures’ ordering eventhough my discount may be greater whenordering further out,” she says. “I would ratherpay a couple of extra percentage points andhave greater flexibility on ordering quantitiesthat suit my business at the time. So, placing asmaller future order with companies that havegood fill-in programs has been helpful for me.”

This back-to-basics philosophy is somethingshe suggests to retailers in a similar predica-ment. Rather than stocking masses of giftitems, eyewear and accessories, Grayson hascut back on these categories and feels it’s bet-ter to order these specialty items as demandarises rather than, as she says, “spending leanbuying dollars on non-core items I would havespent in the past.”

With the uncertain economic picture,Lynne also advises paying extra attention toreining in your inventory, bringing new looksinto the story, varying displays, and re-arrang-ing your stock frequently. “Some things mightsell better in another part of the store,” he says,and retailers need to be on top of what’s mov-ing and what’s not. One area that he’s found isdoing well in his store is accessories, in all typesand colors that have a “go-with” attraction.

Lynne says smaller retailers need toemphasize service. “We give amazing service,which is invaluable to our customers,” he says.“In tough times, you have to go that extra mileand spend more time talking with customers,being more personable—so that they’re buyingsomething besides the products—you have totake the customer to the product and then sellthe product.”

Lynne mentions footwear as an area whereservice is making a huge difference in his busi-ness. He offers shoes at suggested retail price,and they’re selling “like crazy,” Lynne notes,even though the big chain stores are offeringdiscounts on the same items.

And regarding pricing, to help everyonemaintain margins, Lynne says manufacturersshould require all dealers to sell at MAP—mini-mum advertised pricing—and be more protec-tive of the smaller retailers. “After all, the ‘littleguys’ are the ones who initially put them inbusiness,” he says.

RETAILER INPUTLynne suggests manufacturers take cues fromtheir dealers to determine what kind of clothingand footwear they should produce. “Dealersknow their customers’ wants and needs andthey can provide more accurate informationthan a highly paid consultant who is farremoved from Main Street,” he says.

“If more manufacturers cut clothing gearedto ages 35 to 50, they’d make a killing becausethat’s where the consistent buyers are,” hesays. Right now, “Everything looks alike, andnot everyone can wear Nike,” which is gearedto a younger fit.

From the manufacturer’s side, Bruce Fend-ell, vice president of sales for Fila, says thatsince his company is on the smaller side,“We’re looking at growth regardless of whereour positioning is in the marketplace. Prices area little higher, but Fila has added a lot of value.The important thing is we’re getting productvolume out there and retailers seem to behappy to accommodate us with added shelfspace.”

For retailers to compete, says Fendell, “thegood ones are buying better, sharper. It’s also aquestion of controlling inventory.” He suggestssaving money for off-price opportunities, andconsolidating vendors. “Most stores are buyingfrom fewer vendors now, and that makes youmore meaningful to the vendors you’re dealingwith. Consumers, in turn, are showing loyaltyto these stores.”

Giant Nike says business has not suffered,possibly in large part due to exposure the brandgained at the summer Olympics. In the mostrecent quarter, Nike’s U.S. sales rose 8 percent,and the company says future orders overall areup 9 percent. Dealers, says one Nike official,are “stocking up, and consumers desire to keepup with the latest styles on the tennis court.”

It may be harder and harder to do, butsmall retailers need to stay optimistic, saysLynne. “Customers can sense your mood,” hesays. “If you think things will be bad, then it willbe. People don’t want to deal with complainers.It’s all about attitude—you and your employeesalways need to be upbeat.” �

Tips for Competingin Tough Times� To keep costs down, keep inventories

lean and get “back to basics.”� Emphasize and maximize one-on-one

personal relationships with customers,especially if you’re a small retailer. Thiswill help you maintain a loyal customerbase.

� Vary displays and reposition stock fre-quently to make your store look“fresh.”

� Consider flexible hours of operation.Opening later in the morning andextending hours at night may allow youto reach more customers without need-ing to staff more hours.

� Keep big brands prominent, even ifthey’re the highest price in their cate-gory. People perceive value and willtend to pay for it.

� If you do business online, cross-pro-mote your website with your in-storetraffic, and vice versa.

Environmental Greenvs. Financial GreenWhile environmentally friendly trendshave been highly touted recently, retail-ers indicated that in these tough econom-ic times, they weren’t particularlyconcerned about the issue.

In fact, Miami-based Retail SystemsResearch identified the biggest concernsfor all types of retailers were higherfuel/transportation costs and energy con-sumption at the store level, despite themove on manufacturers’ part to moreglobally green initiatives.

In tennis, while some manufacturers haveintroduced organic materials into theirapparel (including a line of official USOpen merchandise), at the store level,retailers don’t appear to be hopping onthe bandwagon. In fact, some questionedwhy manufacturers are spending so muchmoney in this area.

“I see no significant return on investmentfor environmentally-friendly clothing andfootwear that may cost more,” says oneretailer. “And in these financiallystrapped times, consumers aren’t thatinterested, either.” —C.S.

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914-696-7000F 914-696-7167email: [email protected]: www.usta.com

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string PLAYTEST

EASE OF STRINGING Poly M’s Nylon M’s(compared to other strings)Number of testers who said it was:much easier 4 2somewhat easier 3 5about as easy 25 20not quite as easy 3 6not nearly as easy 0 1

OVERALL PLAYABILITY(compared to string played most often)Number of testers who said it was:much better 1 1somewhat better 10 6about as playable 11 11not quite as playable 12 13not nearly as playable 1 3

OVERALL DURABILITY(compared to other stringsof similar gauge)Number of testers who said it was:much better 5 3somewhat better 13 15about as durable 16 10not quite as durable 0 6not nearly as durable 1 0

RATING AVERAGESFrom 1 to 5 (best)Playability 3.4 3.3Durability (20th overall) 4.2 3.9Power 3.4 3.4Control (7th overall) 3.8 3.7Comfort 3.1 3.3Touch/Feel 3.1 3.1Spin Potential (6th overall) 3.6 3.2Holding Tension (12th overall) 3.7 3.3Resistance to Movement 3.9 3.7

Pacific Power Hybrid 16L is a combina-

tion of two top-performing Pacific

strings: Poly Force 17 (1.24 mm) and

Power Line 16L (1.28 mm).According to Pacific, Poly Force is an

exclusive German-made high-modulus co-polyester string, and is Pacific’s numberone co-polyester. It is the most-requestedPacific string by ATP players. Poly Forcehas won numerous string tests around theworld due to its tension maintenance,spin, and power.

Pacific’s Power Line is a co-polymer(nylon) with a solid-core, double wraps,and a special coating. Pacific tells us this isa very “quick” string with outstandingtension maintenance.

Power Hybrid can be installed witheither string as the mains, depending onplayer preference. According to Pacific,75% of ATP players prefer the Poly Forcein the mains, while among older recre-ational players, about the same percent-age prefers Power Line in the mains.

Power Hybrid is available in 17/16L inorange/natural only. It is priced from $11.To learn more about Pacific, please go towww.pacific.com. Stringers and shopswith a business license wanting to learnhow to receive a free sample of PowerHybrid should e-mail Pacific [email protected], or call Pacific at 941-795-1789 (877-847-7727 toll-free fax).

IN THE LABWe recorded stringbed stiffness immedi-ately after stringing at 60 pounds in a Wil-son Pro Staff 6.1 95 (16 x 18 pattern) ona constant pull machine. We re-measuredafter 24 hours (no playing) for tensionloss, as shown in the table. Our controlstring, Prince Synthetic Gut Original Gold16, measured 78 RDC units immediatelyafter stringing and 71 RDC units after 24hours, representing a 9 percent tensionloss. Power Hybrid added around 17grams to the weight of our unstrung

frame: A little more with the Poly Force inthe mains, and about half a gram lesswith the Power Line in the mains.

The string was tested for five weeksby USRSA playtesters. We tested Power

Hybrid “both ways:” One team usedPoly Force in the mains and Power Line inthe crosses, while another team usedPower Line in the mains and Poly Force inthe crosses. These are blind tests, withplaytesters receiving unmarked strings inunmarked packages. We did advise ourplaytesters to reduce tension by ten per-cent when stringing the Poly Force, com-pared to the Power Line, asrecommended by Pacific.

Stringing Power Hybrid is easy, nomatter which string you use for themains. The Poly Force is pleasantlysmooth, and almost feels soft duringinstallation, but we didn’t have any trou-ble grabbing the string with the tips ofour fingers when weaving crosses.

ON THE COURTPower Hybrid scored well with eachplaytest team, supporting Pacific’s find-ings, with the edge going to PowerHybrid with Poly Force in the mains andPower Line in the crosses. In this configu-ration, our playtest team scored PowerHybrid 6th overall for Spin Potential, 7thoverall for Control, 12th overall for Ten-sion Retention, 17th overall for Resis-tance to Movement, and 20th overall forDurability. Power was also judged to bewell above average. These scores were

Pacific Power Hybrid

Poly Force Power LineCoil measurements 23’6” 21’8”Diameter unstrung 1.23-1.24 1.27-1.28Diameter strung 1.20-1.22 1.24-1.25

Poly Force Power Linemains mains

Playtesters 35 34NTRP ratings 3.5-6.0 3.0-6.0RDC stringbedstiffness new 74 74RDC stringbed stiffnessafter 24 hours 65 65Tension loss lbs.after 24 hours 9 9Tension loss % after24 hours 12 12

Poly mains/ Nylon mains/nylon crosses poly crosses

Broke during stringing 1 0Excess coil memory 3 7Difficulty tying knots 0 1Friction burn 0 1

Poly mains/ Nylon mains/nylon crosses poly crosses

Average playtestduration 20.7 23.5Broke during play 4 5Break hours 6, 9, 12, 13 6, 8, 16, 18, 26


“ This string breaks in nicely after twohours of play. It has great pocketing, spinand power. The feel is comfortably firm,which contributes to the remarkablecontrol.” 5.0 male all-court player usingYonex RDS 002 Tour strung at 60 pounds CP(Tecnifibre X-One Biphase 16)

“ This hybrid has a unique blend of controland power. Topspin hitters will be able to hita very heavy ball with this string. It is defi-nitely one of the most comfortable hybridsI’ve ever used. This combination works.”

TESTERS TALK5.0 male baseliner with heavy spin using FischerM Comp strung at 57 pounds CP (Babolat Tonic+ Ball Feel 16)

“ This combination is comparable to many ofthe high end hybrids on the market. It plays alot like the Luxilon TIMO hybrid I’m currentlyusing.” 3.5 male all-court player using PrinceO3 Citron OS strung at 58 pounds LO (LuxilonTIMO/Nylon 18/16)

“ Finally, a poly hybrid I really like. Greatplayability with a truly solid feel. And powertoo! 50 hours on the same string. This is a

record for me. No noticeable tension loss.”4.0 male baseliner with heavy spin using WilsonnPS strung at 62 pounds CP (Tecnifibre NRG217)

“ This string has a great combination of com-fort and power. The cross strings hold up surpris-ingly well over time. String movement is veryminimal.” 5.0 male all-court player usingPrince Tour Diablo MP strung at 64 pounds CP(Polyester 18)

“ This string has a wonderfully crisp feel. It hasvery good control and spin. The comfort is aboveaverage for the breed. Power is on the low side,thus adding to the control.” 5.0 male all-courtplayer using Head Liquidmetal Radical OS strungat 55 pounds CP (Head FXP 16)

“ Overall this hybrid plays well. The softercrosses add comfort and touch. This combinationdoes not have a lot of rebound energy, makingfor a somewhat dead feel.” 6.0 male all-courtplayer using Wilson nTour Two strung at 55pounds CP (Wilson NXT 17)

For the rest of the tester comments, visitwww.racquetsportsindustry.com.

good enough to give this configurationof Power Hybrid a 14th-place overallaverage of the 126 strings we’veplaytested to date.

Power Hybrid with Power Line inthe mains and Poly Force in the crossesgarnered well above average scores inDurability, Power, Control, and Resis-tance to Movement, for an overallscore that is also well above average.This configuration also scored aboveaverage in Playability, Comfort, SpinPotential, and Tension Retention.

CONCLUSIONWith six top-20 scores out of a possible 10,Power Hybrid with Poly Force mains wouldseem to be the clear choice. When you lookat how little separates these two configura-tions in the scores, however, you see insteadhow well Pacific has done in choosing thetwo strings that make up Power Hybrid. Thismatch-up gives the stringer the flexibility tosatisfy a wide range of clients with onestring. If you have a stringing business andare thinking about carrying Pacific strings,give them a call. —Greg Raven �

grommet with a waxed awl. You justneed to stretch the grommet enough toadmit two strings (the cross and the tie-off), and many times this techniqueworks fine. If the grommet barrel splitsor comes adrift, you’ve lost nothingbecause you were going to remove itanyway. If this does work, though, youhave left the grommet strip intact. Aswith grinding out the existing grommetbarrel, you have to do the enlargementbefore putting the cross string through.

THIS TIP IS A CROCSome of you may already use an anti-fatigue mat around your stringing

and TECHNIQUES

THE TROUBLEWITH TIE-OFFS!I recently took in a racquet for stringingwith a hybrid. After installing the mainsI noticed that this particular racquet did-n't have anywhere to tie off the crossesat the throat, despite the Digest listingthat showed two-piece instructions,including tie-off holes. After ponderingmy predicament for a moment, I usedmy grommet-grinding tool to removethe existing grommet where the tie-offhole should have been, popped in alarger individual tie-off grommet, andsaved my string job.5 sets of Pro Supex P.F. Blend1.25/1.30 to:Fred S. McWilliams, CS, Arlington, TX

Editor’s note: This will work, but ifyou’re thinking about grinding out aperfectly good grommet, you mightwant first to try enlarging the existing


tips

machine to save your legs and back.Another way to get the same effect is toinvest in a pair of those trendy, colorfulslip-on shoes (e.g. Crocs, Sketchers, CaliGear, etc.): if your machine is in the mid-dle of your shop's sales floor, not onlywill people engage you in conversationabout stringing they might also approachyou because of your wacky choice offootwear!10 3-packs of TournaGrip to:Lynn Khaing, Dallas, TX

TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE

Readers’ Know-How in Action


Tips and Techniques submitted since 2000 by USRSAmembers, and appearing in this column, have all beengathered into a single volume of the Stringer’s Digest—Racquet Service Techniques which is a benefit of USRSAmembership. Submit tips to: Greg Raven, USRSA, 330Main St., Vista, CA 92804; or [email protected].

When stringing at home or at tourna-ments, I like to have a clock at hand toknow the time. This little clock has a self-sticking back, allowing it to mount any-where. The outer bezel can be set toremind you either of a start time or adeadline. It is sold in most motorbikeshops.5 sets of Ashaway Crossfire II 16 to:Sam Chan, MRT, London, England

SLIPPAGE CHECK

To make sure my clamps are not slippingduring a string job I simply monitor thestring identification printed on the stringas it sits behind the clamp. As I tensionand then clamp the string I watch to seeif there is any movement to the wordsprinted on the string (they come up andsit behind the clamp two or three timesduring each string job). If there is, it iseasy to see and I can make adjustmentson the fly.5 sets of Dunlop Tour Performance16 to:Terry Boyle,Columbine Valley, CO

NO POKEY KNOT ENDS

After I tie a knot, and before I trim off theexcess, I adjust the string end and knot sothat when I trim it, the end will lay flatand neat up against the frame.5 sets of Wilson NXT OS 16L to:Chuck Wright, Baton Rouge, LA

GRIP-WRAPPINGFOR LEFTIESNormally when installing a replacementgrip, you use the existing tapered end tostart out, but when the racquet is for aleft-handed player, this leaves a sharperangled beveled seam in the finished wrap.It is much easier to take the untrimmedend of the replacement grip and trim ataper to match the reverse wrap for thelefty. The finished wrap will then have amore normal angled seam. The only thingthat remains is to take a black permanent

marker to touch up any white lining thatmay show up on the finished grip.5 sets of Gamma Asterisk 16 anda hat to:Albert Lee, MRTPotomac, MD

—Greg Raven �

the EXPERTSask

DIGEST LEGIBILITYSOMETIMES I HAVE DIFFICULTYreading the Stringer’s Digest, asyou can see below. Any sugges-

tions?

ALL OF THE INFORMATION con-tained in the Stringer’s Digest is

available on-line. Therefore, if you have acomputer you can set up in your stringingarea, your cat will almost certainly lay atopthe computer, keyboard, or monitor,increasing the legibility of your Digest.

HOW OFTEN TOCHANGE RACQUETS

DO YOU HAVE A recommenda-tion as to how often a 4.0-5.0player who plays three or four

time a week should change racquets?

OUR CONTACTS AT BABOLAT,Dunlop, Fischer, Gamma, Head,

Prince, Tecnifibre, Volkl, Wilson, andYonex recommend changing racquetseach time a new model becomes avail-able. If this approach is not feasible, yourbest bet is to change racquets only whenyou feel like it. For all intents and purpos-es, modern tennis racquets don’t wearout. At tennis facilities everywhere, thereare plenty of great players using wellmaintained 5-to-20 year-old racquetswith no problem. Just make certain youhave a good supply of bumperguards. Ifthe bumperguards for your frame are nolonger available through normal channels,USRSA members can contact the Grom-

mets Network ([email protected])to enlist the aid of other USRSA memberswho might have them in stock.

Of course, if you are wearing out rac-quets, it’s a different matter. In this case, itdepends on how hard you are on them. Themore trips your racquets make to the fence,net posts, court surface, and other hardobjects, the more often you’ll need toreplace them.

CONSTANT PULL VS. LOCKOUTI AM IN THE MARKET FOR A string-ing machine and am having difficultymaking sense of a couple of issues.

One of them is constant-pull versus lockout.I have read on the web that lockoutmachines do not offer the consistency ofconstant pull machines because with thelockout machine (1) the string loses tensionafter you have tensioned it but before youhave clamped it, and (2) the tensiondepends on how fast you move the crank.On the other hand, you may lose a little ten-

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sion before clamping with an electric con-stant-pull machine if the tensioning sys-tem is not sensitive enough tocompensate for small tension drops. Also,with constant-pull machines, there maybe some inconsistency in tension if youare not consistent with the amount oftime you let the string pull. The final issueis that of 360-degree rotation. Does lackof 360-degree rotation result in any lackof consistency in pulling the first twomain strings or any other problem?

UNLESS YOU BUY A REALLY POORquality or malfunctioning machine,

most of your problems with consistencyare going to be due to your stringingtechnique, not the machine. That is tosay, even though the final stringbed stiff-ness with a lockout machine is lower thanthat of a comparable constant-pullmachine, this is not a consistency issue.As your technique improves with a lock-out machine, your pulling speed andtime-to-clamp will become more consis-tent.

Also, in most cases you will find thereare larger consistency issues with theclamps and mounting system than withthe tensioning system. Other than physi-cal defect, the consistency of the tension-ing system usually comes into play only ifyou don’t properly maintain and calibrateyour lockout machine, as it typically willneed re-calibration more often than aconstant-pull machine.

In other words, for any reasonablycompetent stringing machine, themachine itself is almost certainly going tobe more consistent than the stringer.

As for 360-degree rotation, again, thisdoesn’t affect consistency as much as itdoes speed. In fact, you stand to gain abit of consistency by having the tensionhead up at the level of the stringbed.Whichever you choose, eventually thatsystem will seem “normal” to you, and asyour comfort grows with your machine,your consistency will improve.

STRING STIFFNESSIS THERE A SPECIFIC STRING stiff-ness that is considered as a limit?For example, if the stiffness of the

string is above that number it is consid-ered a stiff string, while if the stiffness isbelow that number, it is considered soft?According to USRSA lab tests, the stiff-ness of natural gut usually is 110-120,

whereas some synthetics such asPrince Synthetic Gut with Duraflexhave a measured stiffness of 210.Does this make PSGD a stiff string?Do I also need to factor in which rac-quet the strings are going into? I’mtrying to figure out which strings willcause arm problems.

THE DYNAMIC STIFFNESS WEmeasure in our lab tests is an

important characteristic of tennisstring, but it is still just one character-istic. There are plenty of players usingstiffer strings, and doing just fine withthem.

If you are seeking a soft string tohelp prevent arm problems, go withgut. If you want to use nylon, start atthe “soft” end of the list of nylonstrings and try a few. If PSGD looksattractive, you can buy sets all daylong for less than four bucks, so itcosts next to nothing to give it a try.

The racquet does matter, asidefrom any arm issues that derive fromthe racquet itself, due to size varia-tions in the racquet head, and thestringbed density. A more open pat-tern — that is, one with fewer stringsper square inch — is naturally goingto be softer than one with a densestring pattern, everything else beingequal.

LOOKING UP STRINGSTIFFNESS

I READ YOUR "GUIDE TOStrings" article on pages 38-39in your September/October

2008 edition of Racquet Sports Indus-try magazine. I want to look up the"stiffness/tension loss" specs for theremainder of the 600 more stringsyour article refers to. I went to yourweb site, www.RacquetTECH.com,but could not find the link to click onto view the complete string listing andchart. Please direct me to the appro-priate link.

You can find the full listinghere: http://www.usrsa.com/

members/tools/string_specs.html—Greg Raven �

We welcome your questions. Please send them

to Racquet Sports Industry, 330 Main St., Vista,

CA, 92084; fax: 760-536-1171; email:

[email protected].

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Changing Our GameWith challenges and changes looming, the USTA’s executivedirector says the organization must be disciplined, lean and in itfor the common good.

Oneof the great things about beinginvolved in a traditional sport like ten-nis is that it can be an oasis of conti-

nuity in a world of change. Sure, things dochange, such as racquet technology, tennisfashions, even electronic line-calling. But a lotof the time, getting together with friends tohave a hard-fought game of tennis is not allthat different than it was 25 or even 75 yearsago.

I like that sense of being part of some-thing with such a great tradition. Thetemptation, however, is to ignore themore uncomfortable changes that arebeing thrust upon us. As executive direc-tor, it is my responsibility to ensure thatthe USTA responds quickly and effectivelyto the implications of that change so thegame can continue to grow.

The first change that has come uponus is the double whammy of a plateauingUSTA income and a tight economy. Withdeclining resources, the national officemust be the model of leadership andoperational excellence. Toward that end, Iwill aggressively lead an effort to becomeleaner, more efficient and accountablewhile retaining and recruiting the bestavailable talent.

We in the national office need todecrease expenses. We must begin tospend the USTA’s money as if it werecoming from our own checking accounts.But that alone is not enough. We can’task others to sacrifice until we’ve gottenour act together. And I want to hear fromyou about what you think we could dobetter, more efficiently and with less cost.

As we continue to improve at national,I’m committed to providing the 17 sec-tions with the best training, financialadvice, and mentoring possible. I realizethat in many cases it works the otherway—we can learn best practices fromthe bottom up. That’s why we need our17 laboratories experimenting with new

league formats and new ways to findyoung athletic talent.

The second change we face is the 75million baby-boomers who are retiring andbeing replaced by Generation X, and moreimportantly, by Generation Y. Gen Y arepeople born roughly between 1978 and’94. They are racially and ethnically diverse,technology savvy, impatient, skeptical, andcelebrity- and entertainment-driven. Theyhave no memory of Arthur Ashe, Billie JeanKing, John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg, JimmyConnors, Chris Evert, Boris Becker or woodracquets. What does this mean for tennis?

Their natural acceptance of diversitymeans our programs and our very structuremust genuinely reflect diversity. Remember:Diversity at its purest is not about theunderprivileged. It is not about programsfor diverse groups. It is about inclusion atall levels. If Gen Y sees us as a group thatcompartmentalizes diversity, they simplywon’t sign-on. For them diversity is organicand natural.

The experts tell us the best way to reachGeneration Y is by Gen Y’s. That means wemust recruit Gen Y volunteers. And if wewant this generation as our next nationalleaders, we must consider rethinking someof our traditional practices.

For example, does traditional print mar-keting move the dial to generations wiredinto the internet as never before? This hasimplications from planning our nationalgatherings to creating a highly effectiveAdvanced Media operation, and by that Imean how we’re using the power of theweb to our advantage.

With the help of our talented AdvancedMedia group, we are conducting a soup tonuts review of Advanced Media including acomplete assessment of our website. Sev-enty-five percent of our web traffic is frompeople who want to sign up for a programor scout an opponent. Yet, our website isnot nearly robust enough in participation

B Y G O R D O N S M I T H

opportunities and not well-linked to non-USTA opportunities. That will change.

By the way, the Generation after Y,those born after 1996, are sometimescalled Generation I, for the internet gen-eration. They are also known as “digitalnatives” because they will never remem-ber a time when you couldn’t do every-thing you wanted to do on a computer.With Gen I, we’re in a battle for theirhearts and minds. We’ll never get them tothe tennis net unless we meet them firston the internet.

I realize I’m asking us to do all of thisat the national and sectional level withfewer resources, but I’ve rarely seen agood tennis player who wasn’t also disci-plined and lean. So must this organizationbe, too.

When I am faced with a decision, Ifind it helpful to go back to the basics.Who are we? And, what are we? We area not-for-profit organization. We are inthis for the common good. The stock-in-trade of a not-for-profit is a changedhuman life. We are human changeagents.

Tennis is fast, healthy, entertainingand doesn’t take all day or cost an armand a leg. It has an outstanding historyand an even greater future. And I hopethat you are as proud to be a part of it asI am. �

Your Serve

Gordon Smith joined the USTAnational office as the executivedirector in November 2007. Anavid player, he is a longtime vol-unteer, serving as president of theUSTA Southern Section, at-large

board member of the national USTA , and vicepresident of the USTA.

We welcome your opinions. Please emailcomments to [email protected] fax them to 760-536-1171.


200811 Racquet Sports Industry

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