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INDUSTRY NEWSINDUSTRY NEWSR S I M A Y 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

Patrick McEnroe has been named general manager of USTA Elite Player Development, as partof a new strategic direction for the development of future American champions. The initiativewill provide a greater focus on top American junior players and young pros.

The USTA also will create a Champions AdvisoryBoard and Coaches Commission to bring together thebest in American tennis to provide input into talent iden-tification, program development, and coaching. In addi-

tion, the new direction will include the launch of USTAPro Track, providing a pathway for top American juniorsto achieve at the highest levels of the game.

McEnroe, who led the U.S. Davis Cup team to its firsttitle in 12 years last December, will remain in his role asDavis Cup captain. He will begin his new full-time posi-tion as general manager on May 12, and will report toArlen Kantarian, CEO of Professional Tennis. McEnroewill oversee the USTAs National Coaches and c oachingprogram, as well as the USTA Training Centers in BocaRaton, Fla., and Carson, Calif.

This is one of the sports highest callings and I am

thrilled to unify and lead a team to keep America thehome of champions, says McEnroe. The USTA has sig-nificantly stepped up its commitment to the develop-ment of elite champions, and I am honored to lead thiseffort. I look forward to working with our past champi-ons, top coaches, academies, and other industry leaders.

Patrick McEnroe is one of the most respected and forward-thinking minds in tennis today, andhas achieved success at every level of the sport, says Kantarian. With Patrick at the helm, we lookforward to building a broad coalition of support toward one common goal: creating the next gen-eration of American champions.

The USTA is clearly on the right track, says coach Nick Bollettieri. Patrick is a man who putswhat is best for American tennis in front of everything else. We look forward to working with himand the USTA on this new effort to create American champions and inspire individuals to play thegame.

Fonte RetiresFrom Prince

PrinceAmericasPresidentDougFonte hasretired

for thesecond time. Fonte came outof retirement in 2005 to helprebuild the Prince brand inthe U.S., then later addedresponsibility for Canada andLatinAmerica.

"This time it's permanent,"Fonte says. "Getting back inthe tennis industry, contribut-ing to the revival of Prince,working with [Prince Chair-man and CEO] George Napierand the terrific Prince teamover the past three years hasbeen a lot of fun and veryrewarding, but now is theright time to let a youngergeneration take the companyto the next level.

Working with Doug the pastthree years has been reallygood for our team and a priv-ilege for me, says Napier.Although Doug is leaving hismanagement role, he will stayconnected to Prince as a con-sultantthrough 2009andas a Prince ambassador toseveral organizations includ-ing the ArthurAshe YouthTennis and Education Centerin Philadelphia and the Inter-national Tennis Hall of Fame.

As for the future, "I fullyexpect to fill Doug's rolewhen the time is right, saysNapier.

May 2008 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY 7

Nominations Sought for Tennis Industry Hall of Fam

The Tennis Industry Association is creating a Tennis Industry Hall of Fame, to recognize thoseindividuals who have had a significant impact on the sport of tennis. Eligibility is open to any-one who has been or is currently in the tennis industry. TIA membership is not required for

consideration in the Tennis Industry Hall of Fame.To nominate someone, go to www.tennisindustry.org/hof by Friday, May 30. Nominations, and

those submitting nominations, will remain confidential. All nominations will be considered by theHall of Fame Nominating Committee, then submitted to the TIA Board of Directors.

Inductees into the inaugural Tennis Industry Hall of Fame class will be announced in New YorkCity in August, in conjunction with the TIA Tennis Forum and the US Open.

McEnroe to Head USTA Elite Player Development


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13/52May 2008 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY 11

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

Top-Selling Racquetsat Specialty StoresBy year-to-date dollars, January-December 2007(average selling price)

Best-Sellers1. Babolat Pure Drive Cortex (MP) $1722. Prince O3 White (MP) $1853.Wilson K Six One 95 (16x18) (MS) $1744.Wilson K Six One Tour 90 (MS) $1845.Wilson K Six One Team 95 (MS) $176

Hot New Racquets(Introduced in the past 12 months)1.Wilson K Six One 95 (16x18) (MS) $1742.Wilson K Six One Tour 90 (MS) $1843.Wilson K Six One Team 95 (MS) $1764. Babolat Aeropro Drive Cortex (MP) $1755. Prince O3 SpeedPort Blue (OS) $241

Tennis RacquetPerformanceSpecialty Stores,January-December, 2007 vs. 2006

Units 2007 822,5562006 793,836% Change vs. 06 4%

Dollars 2007 114,042,000

2006 105,225,000% Change vs. 06 8%

Price 2007 $1392006 $133% Change vs. 06 5%

Top-SellingTennis Shoes atSpecialty StoresBy year-to-date dollars,January-December 2007(average selling price)

1.AdidasBarricade IV $99

2. NikeAir Breathe Free 2 $95

3.AdidasBarricade II $824. Prince

MV4 $935. Prince

T10 $77

Top-SellingTennis Stringsat SpecialtyStoresBy year-to-date dollars,January-December 20071. Prince

Synthetic Gut Duraflex2.Wilson

NXT3.Wilson

Sensation4. Prince

Lightning XX5. Luxilon

Alu Power

ASBA's 2008 Awards Application is now available in the Members Only section of its website,www.sportsbuilders.org. Print out the form to fax or mail or save it to complete it on your com-puter. The application has been simplified and the number of photographs has been reduced.Completed applications and payments ($150 per application submitted) are due by July 1, 2008.

If you need assistance accessing the Members Only section or if you require any other informa-tion, contact Cynthia at 866-510-ASBA or [email protected].

(Source: TIA/Sports Marketing Surveys)

ASBA Facility Awards Application Available Online


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M A Y 2 0 0 8I N D U S T R Y N E W S

Ian Griffinof Onalaska, Wis., is

the grand-prize winner ofthe USPTAS first-ever personal

website contest. Griffin is a USPTAPro 1 and 29-year member. His web-

site, iangriffin.usptapro.com, stood outfor the creative use of colors, links to

online lessons and club information, andavailability of content in English, Spanishand French. As the grand-prize winner, Grif-fin receives products from Head/Penn, includ-ing racquets, a bag and string.

John McEnroe will returnfor his eighth season withthe World TeamTennisPro League presented by

Advanta, playing threeroad matches for the NewYork Sportimes this summer.Other top names in the WTT Pro Leagueinclude Lindsay Davenport, Serena Williams,Andy Roddick, Venus Williams, MartinaNavratilova, Anna Kournikova and Bob andMike Bryan. The Pro League season runs July3-23 in 11 markets.

Satoshi Ochi, of Omaha, Neb., has beennamed strength and conditioning specialist

for USTA Sport Science. Ochi joins thePlayer Development staff at the USTATraining Center and Player Development

Headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla.

Todd Martin defeated JohnMcEnroe to win the sin-

gles title in March

at the$150,000 The OliverGroup Champions Cup inNaples, Fla., the opening eventon the 2008 Outback ChampionsSeries tennis circuit.

Ashaway Racket Strings hassigned squash great NatalieGrainger to a multi-year spon-sorship agreement. Grainger,who won the US Nationals inMarch after switching to Ash-away's new SuperNick XL Micro, iscurrently ranked No. 1 in the US and No. 4on the Women's International Squash PlayersAssociation Tour.

College of Charleston junior Megan Man-they, a member of the womens soccer team,won the $5,000 scholarship grant donatedeach year by the Family Circle Cup Commu-nity Outreach program.

Pro Nikolay Davydenko switched to Princesnew Ozone Pro Tour racquet at the 2008Sony Ericsson Open in Miami in March andtook home them mens singles title. He alsostarted wearing Princes OV1 shoes, too.Other Prince champions at the Sony Erics-

son included mens doubles winners Boband Mike Bryan and womens doubleswinners Ai Sugiyama and Katarina Sre-botnik, all playing with O3 SpeedportBlack frames. In addition, womenssingles finalist Jelena Jankovicuses the O3 Speedport ProWhite.

P E O P L E W A T C H

12 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY May 2008

Dunlop Offers $1 Million Prize

In March, Dunlop launched its newest consumer promotion, the Million DollarSlam, which gives recreational players a chance to win up to $1 million. Tennisplayers who demo a Dunlop Aerogel racquet at participating pro shops, tennis

retailers or at events throughout North America will receive a contest Game Card witha unique PIN code. Participants enter the sweepstakes contest online atwww.Dunlopsweepstakes.com.

Upon entering the PIN code, participants are assigned a Dunlop Tour Team play-er, and if that player is named the Dunlop Spotlight player and wins one of the finalthree Grand Slams in 2008, they will win up to $1 million. Dunlop Tour Team play-ers are James Blake, Tomas Berdych, Tommy Robredo, Nicolas Almagro, TommyHaas, and Thomas Johansson.

But the $1 million Grand Prize isnt the only prize. An all-expenses-paid trip fortwo to Saddlebrook Tennis Resort in Tampa to meet James Blake, along with DunlopGear packages, can be won as well. Complete rules and details of the contest can befound at Dunlopsweepstakes.com.



> Dunlop Sports Group is the official balland racquet for the WTA Tours Family CircleCup, which celebrates its 35th anniversarythis year. Dunlop, based in Greenville, S.C.,has also become the official ball and racquet

of the Family Circle Tennis Center inCharleston, S.C.

> The USTA and Evian Natural Spring Waterwill extend their 22-year partnership with theUS Open through 2012. Beginning this year,the partnership will expand to include spon-sorship of the Olympus US Open Series forthe first time, with Evian becoming the offi-cial bottled water of each of the USOS tour-naments held in the U.S. In related news,Juvederm will also be an official sponsor ofthe US Open, the events first cosmetic indus-try sponsor.

> The Plexipave surface by California Prod-ucts was chosen for the 2008 Pacific LifeOpen, which was played in March in IndianWells, Calif.

> Applications for the 27th annual USTAOutstanding Tennis Facility Awards are nowavailable online at www.usta.com. Recogni-tion will be given to outstanding public ten-nis facilities under the jurisdiction of (1) a

parks and recreation department, (2) an edu-cational institution, (3) a non-profit corpora-tion or (4) a private and commercially ownedand operated facility with USTA and othergrowth programs open to the public. Appli-cations are due in July.

> The USTA Tennis & Education Foundation,the philanthropic and charitable entity of theUSTA, has appointed five new directors-at-large to its board: Lucy S. Garvin ofGreenville, S.C.; Jonathan Vegosen of Chica-go; Carol Kimmelman of Bernardsville, N.J.,and Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.; Terry L. March ofWater Mill, N.Y.; and Paul Palandjian ofBoston. Their expertise and commitmentwill help support the organizations goal toreach as many at-risk and special-needyoungsters as possible through tennis andeducation, says Karen Martin-Eliezer, execu-tive director of the USTA T&EF.

> Are you a USTA member? With theMember Get Member program, you canreceive $15 off your next purchase at

USOpen.org for every new member yourefer to the USTA. Send them toUSTA.com/MGM.

> For the first time, the USTA Yearbookhistorical records are available online at

www.USTA.com/Yearbook. The onlineedition of the Yearbook will serve as asupplement to the longstanding printedition and will be updated yearly, pro-viding access to current and formerchampions, results and USTA Award-winners in both the professional andamateur ranks.

> The Active Network Inc., a provider ofapplication services technology and mar-keting solutions for community service

and participatory sports organizations,has signed on to provide online registra-tion for the Intercollegiate Tennis Associ-ation's memberships, conventions and85 ITA-administered college tennis tour-naments. In addition, Active will rebuildITA's website, www.itatennis.com.

SHORT SETSI N D U S T R Y N E W S


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2008 GSS Sy mposiumTrade Show to Feature Top Companies

The Grand Slam Stringers Symposium presented by the USRSA, scheduled for Oct.11-14 in Orlando, Fla., is shaping up to be a major player in the industry. After asuccessful inaugural launch in 2007, this years event will be bigger in both sizeand scope, with enhanced and expanded seminars and a trade show featuring manytop manufacturers.

The USRSA is excited to be involved in such a big way because, with enoughsupport, this event could become the new Super Show for rac-quet sports, says David Bone, USRSA executive director (and aco-publisher of RSI magazine).

Bone and Tim Strawn, the founder and owner of GSS, haveteamed up to make this gathering beneficial for anyone whosells or services racquets. If we can train people to do what wedo the right way, there are lots of benefits, says Strawn.

Players stay in the game longer when they're using the rightequipment and it's properly serviced, he adds. Shop owners can open up newsources of revenue by using the information available at the Symposiumcus-

tomizing, shop operations, working with gut, etc. If they can increase revenues,they can stay in business. The idea is to do our small part to keep the game healthyand continue the growth of the sport.

Adds Bone: As the technology and science of equipment and racquet servicecontinue to become more complex, it is exciting to have a setting where racquetservice professionals can get together to share ideas and help increase everyone'sknowledge.

Several participants at last years GSS Symposium bought stringing machinesand diagnostic equipment after seeing and using them at the event. The expandedtrade show at this years event will provide an opportunity for participants to seethe latest technology and equipment and talk to company reps.

The trade show is an opportunity for vendors to communicate directly with

retailers, says Bone. The fees generated by the vendors also help to keep the costsfor the participants as low as possible. V endors can still sign up for the trade show.For a list of participating vendors to date, or for more information, visitwww.grandslamstringers.com.

There also are several new additions to the Symposium, including the Simulat-ed Tour Stringing Room sponsored by Wilson, the official string team of the USOpen. If you hope to one day string on the pro tour, or if youre just curious aboutwhat happens be hind the scenes at a major tournament, this is a rare opportunity.Another new seminar is a presentation by Ameriprise designed to help small busi-ness owners evaluate their operations. To register for the 2008 GSS Symposium,visit www.grandslamstringers.com.

FREE ADMISSIONTO THE 2008 GSS STRINGERS SYMPOSIUM

GSS is waiving the $495 symposium fee for one lucky winner.Just cut out this coupon and mail it to:

Baselines Racquet Sports LLC4710 Norwood St SW, Roanoke, Va 24018

One entry per month, per person please. Drawing will be held July 15th, 2008.Offer good for symposium admission only. Travel, lodging, and food not included.

Name _____________________________________________________________ Address ____________________________________________________________Phone _____________________________________________________________Email ______________________________________________________________

winner will be notified by phone and email - please write legibly!

2008 GSS Symposium


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Cast in CementDuring their first-round Davis Cup win over Austria inFebruary, the defending champion U.S. Davis Cup team ofBob and Mike Bryan, Andy Roddick, James Blake and Cap-tain Patrick McEnroetook time out to

make their mark onViennas Avenue ofChampions. Eachteam member laid ahand down in acement casting,while McEnroes feetwere immortalized.The teams imprints andbronze plaque now jointhose of other superstar ath-letes such as Boris Becker,

Steffi Graf, Ernie Els, CarlLewis, George Foreman, Peleand Mark Spitz.

USTA Honors People,Organizationsat 2008 CTDW

TThe USTA presented honorsto various tennis organiza-tions and people from

around the nation at the annualCommunity Tennis DevelopmentWorkshop, which was held at theFlamingo Las Vegas Feb. 22-24.

The CTDW is one of the pre-mier gatherings in the U.S. forcommunity tennis leaders. Thefollowing awards were presented:Q NJTL of the Year (presented at three dif-

ferent budget levels): Rising Stars of Ken-tucky Tennis, Louisville, Ky.; NJTL of Trenton Inc., Trenton, N.J.; and DallasTennis Association, Dallas, Texas.

Q Janet Louer USTA Jr. Team Tennis Organ-izer of the Year: Rita Gladstone, DaytonaBeach, Fla.

Q Adaptive Tennis National CommunityService Award: Orthotic & ProstheticAssistance Fund of Langhorne, Pa.

Q Community Tennis Association of theYear: Florenc e Tennis Association, Flo-rence, S.C.

Q Eve Kraft Community Service Awards:Sue Jollensten, Albuquerque, N.M.; NancyHorowitz, Pembroke Pines, Fla.; JaimeKaplan, Macon, Ga.; Bob Phelps, Carson

City, Nev.


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King, SpadeaChoose PrincesAerotech Line

At the startof the

2008 SonyEricsson Openin Miami inMarch, nearly30 tour playerswere wearingPrinces newAerotechapparel line,including VaniaKing (top),Vince Spadea

and AlbertMontanes (bot-tom right). TheAerotech linewas officiallylaunched this year.

The fact that 27 world-class ath-letes have decided to wear our newperformance apparel on tour is agreat start, says George Napier, CEOand chairman of Prince Sports."Developing Aerotech apparel hasbeen an intensive initiative and theresponse we're getting from athletesand consumers is rewarding.

The Aerotech Spring 2008 line isavailable in three collections:Q Gold: The premier on-court collec-

tion featuring an athletic silhouetteand worn by ATP and WTA touringpros.

Q Silver: A more relaxed silhouettefeaturing fashion accents.

Q Black: A comprehensive line fea-turing classic silhouettes, colorsand designs in contemporary cuts,perfect for school teams andleagues, says Prince.

Features of the apparel linesinclude AeroFit, allowing fabrics tomove and stretch for comfort andmobility; AeroShield, for protectionagainst UV rays and bacteria; andAeroVent, technical materials withcooling zones for ventilation andmoisture management.

To see the Aerotech line, visit

www.princetennis.com/VCAB.

PTR Offers New Benefit

The PTR and CoachingSchool.org have joined forces to provide PTR teachers andcoaches with a resource for coaching kids tennis. PTR members receive a freeemail subscription to the CoachingMinute, a weekly 2-1/2- to 5-minute audio-for-matted file with world-class coaching concepts.

The CoachingMinute is designed for anyone working with kids at any level, from

first-time instructors to seasoned veterans. The resource can help tennis teachers cre-ate an environment where young students enjoy their lessons at a fuller, deeper level,learn more and perform better. The concepts are grounded in play, coaching andbehavioral success sciences.


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M A Y 2 0 0 8



New Orleans to Host Public Parks Tourney

The 82nd National Public Parks Tennis Championships will takeplace July 21-29 at the University Tennis Center in New Orleans.The tournament is open to all USTA members and features junior,adult, NTRP and family events in both singles and doubles. The juniorevents will take place on the opening four days, followed by the adultdivisions.

The deadline to register for all events is July 11. For more informa-tion on registering for the Public Parks Tennis Championships, visitfirstservetournaments.com.

Industry Cites TWCs

The "Top 50 Tennis Welcome Centers of 2007" have been recognizedby the TIA, USTA and Racquet Sports Industry as leading the chargein the growth of the sport by providing well-rounded programs tonew and current players of all ages and abilities.

The facilities honored exhibited excellent participation figuresinvolving new and returning players, support of industry programs andcommunity tennis development, and were active with TWC facilityrequirements, among other criteria. To see the winners, visitwww.GrowingTennis.com.

The Tennis Welcome Center initiative is backed by all sectors of theindustry. Popular pro player Maria Sharapova and James Blake arespokesmodels for the program, which is free to tennis facilities whowish to support industry efforts to grow participation through specificprogramming and marketing.

ITA, TennisRecruiting.netAnnounce Partnership

The Intercollegiate Tennis Association and the Ten-nis Recruiting Network have announced a part-nership to help college coaches connect withfuture players. All ITA member coaches will be eligi-ble to receive a special rate for the Coaching Advan-tage service at the TennisRecruiting.net website.

TennisRecruiting.net offers content and servicesfor college-bound athletes, coaches and tennis enthu-siasts. The website has player profile web pages formore than 60,000 high school and middle school ten-nis players.

"Our mission is to help college coaches connectwith junior players, and working with the ITA shouldhelp us with that mission," says Julie Wrege, editor of TennisRecruiting.net. "The ITA can help us expandour reach with college coaches, giving both collegesand players more options with respect to recruiting."

The ITA is the governing body of collegiate tennisin the U.S., comprised of nearly 1,500 membercoaches representing more than 1,200 institutions. Itoversees activities involving over 25,000 college stu-dent-athletes. For more information, visitwww.ITATennis.com and www.TennisRecruiting.net.


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T I A N E W S M A Y 2 0 0 8

Tennis Health Index UpdateNews You Can Use!Although thecompletedTennisHealthIndex isntdue until earlyMay, this new

measure is a welcomedresearch addition to helptrack player participation.

Over the last several months,weve seen an increasingnumber of facilities register-ing to becomeofficialTennis Welcome Centers ,with many offering CardioTennis and to date nearly600 offering QuickStart Ten-nis. AtGrowingTen-nis.com, facilities andretailers can get involvedwith these initiatives by post-

ing their information for con-sumers. With an average of 1 million queries per monthand a 1000% increase infacilities using this system,we encourage you to findout more through the weeklyonline Open Houses .

Mark Your Calendars:The second annualTIA Ten-nis Forum will be heldon Aug. 25, during the

USTA TennisTeachers Confer-ence in New York.

At the Forum, the firstinductees into the newTen-nis Industry Hall of Famewill be recognized for theircontributions to the tennisindustry. For more informa-tion, see page 7.

Thanks for your support of the TIA and our joint efforts

to grow tennis.

NEWS & UPDATESNEWS & UPDATES

Jolyn de Boer

Expanded RSI Partnership Includes New TIA Member News Fe

The TIA is increasing the visibility of its member companies with a new

RSS feed for company press releases and news. The RSS feed, Ten-nisIndustry News, will appear on TennisIndustry.org, RacquetSportsIn-

dustry.com and additional sites for up-to-date member news. This increasedmarketing and communications effort started in April.

Any press release submitted by TIA member companies [email protected] or already on a distribution list with Racquet Sports

Industry will automatically be posted on the TennisIndustry News RSS feed,and it also will receive bonus email distribution to industry contacts andmedia.

In addition, the TIA is working in conjunction with The Sherry Group, anational public relations firm, to help direct attention to TIA member news. Asa TIA media partner, The Sherry Group will deliver exposure for TennisIndus-

try News to their more than 100,000 media sources.

5 of 8 Indicators Available Reporting Growth

Every year since 1999, the USTA and TIA have carried outa major national survey of the number of tennis players inthe U.S. While this has been an important measure of thehealth of tennis over the years, the industry felt that rather thanrisk being over-reliant on a single survey, more measures couldbe used to introduce a series of checks and balances sort of likecreating our own Dow Jones Industrial Average for Tennis..

So last yea r, the TIA/USTA created the Tennis Health Index,which combines eight indicators to give an accurate measure of the state of tennis in the U.S. on a yearly basis. The componentsof this robust index include a number of participation surveysfrom various sources; ball shipment data; and facility, player andcourt activity monitors to give a broad and diversified view of the development of the industry. So far, five measures are in:

Tennis ParticipationUSTA/TIA Phone Survey: In 2007, ten-nis topped 25.1 million players , the first time since 1999 thatthe sport has broken the 25 million barrier. In addition, since 2003, frequent players (who play 21times a year or more) have increased 15%.

Ball Shipments: The TIA has tracked tennis ball shipments for more than 20 years. Tennis ball unitshave historically been a good indicator of the level of play. Shipments have increased 15% since 2003.

Court Activity Monitor: For the first time in 2007, the TIA/USTA began an audit to measure activ-ity at facilities. A panel of 628 facilities was surveyed online and by telephone. From this, a total courtsused figure was calculated for 2007. A total of 137 million courts were booked/used last year.

Annual Facility Survey: As part of the TIA/USTAs Court Activity Monitor, a bi-annual survey of facil-ities is carried out. From the survey, 60% of facilities said new players had increased and 6% said newplayers had decreased. The net of 54% will be included in the Tennis Health Index.

Tennis ParticipationNSGA Mail Panel Survey: The National Sporting Goods Association has beentracking participation in dozens of sports for nearly 30 years. Its 2007 survey, of participants 7 yearsold and older who play more than once a year, shows a nearly 20% increase in tennis participation.

Using four of the eight Tennis Health Indexindicators that were available in early April,the chart above shows a projected index for thelast eight years. The full THI will be calculated when all indicators are available in early May.

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


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Online Open Houses: Boost Your Business for Free

In just 30 minutes, you can learn how to post your programs for free on key consumer web-sites using the GrowingTennis system. Its easy when you go to a TIA Growing TennisOnline Open House.The Open Houses are every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, from 1 to 1:30 p.m. EST.

When you post your information on the GrowingTennis system, it will appear on key con-sumer websites such as USTA.com, Tennis.com, TennisWeek.com, TennisChannel.com andothers. Plus, youll get extra mileage as a facility participating in industry initiatives on Ten-nisWelcomeCenter.com, CardioTennis.com or QuickStartTennis.com.

Every month, more than 1 million queries are made to facilities who post their programinformation on these sites, so dont be left out of using this s ystem for free marketing to sell your programs and

grow your business. Online sign-up and payment features also are available.The half-hour Open House session will take you through the easy steps to get the most out of the GrowingTennis System.

The online training includes an opportunity to ask the expert about the system and its features and benefits, as technol-ogy professionals guide you throug h this information tutorial. All you need is a computer and phone line to call in.

To register, visit GrowingTennisTraining.com, call toll-free 866-686-3036 or email [email protected].

T I A N E W S

Business &Technology Workshops

Improve your customer service through the useof the latest advancements in online tennistechnology. Attend a Growing Tennis Business& Technology Workshop in your area for an inter-active, hands-on workshop on How to Fast TrackYour Business with Technology. The work-

shops, ideal for service providers, marketing staff,directors, managers or owners, are led by experi-enced facilitators who have expert training andbackground in technology and online business,marketing and customer-service solutions. See theschedule below, and visit www.GrowingTennis-Training for more info.Q Tampa, April 19Q Atlanta, April 28Q Philadelphia, May 5Q Los Angeles, May 19Q Chicago, June 16

Cardio Tennis Update

Cardio Tennis workshopsoffer two days of completeCardio Tennis training fornew and existing sites:Q Atlanta, April 13-14Q Houston, May 3-4Q Bowie, Md., May 17-18Q Los Angeles, June 8-9Q Cardio Tennis made appearances

at the Tennis Channel Open, thePacific Life Open and the SonyEricsson, with stadium-courtdemos, consumer participationactivities and Cardio Tennis onthe beach.

Q Internationally, Cardio Tennis willmake its debut in Turkey with atwo-day workshop. And whileCardio Tennis has been a pres-ence in Canada for more than

two years, the first national work-shop was presented in conjunc-tion with Tennis Canada recently.

Q Cardio Tennis for Kids (CT4kids)debuted recently at the USPTANorCal and Texas division con-ventions and at the PTR Sympo-sium in Hilton Head Island, S.C.To learn more about CT4kids visitwww.partners.cardio-tennis.com.

Retailer NewsQ Receive a free topline

report when you partici-pate in the Cost of Doing Business Study of operational data for ten-nis retailers. Compareyour business to others.Go to TennisIndustry.orgto take a 10-minute sur-vey. All information kept confidential.

QBecome a panelist forSports Marketing Surveysand receive up to $300 ayear. Call SMS at 561-427-0647.

Q Get an online stringingtracking system, avail-able with TennisCon-nect. For moreinformation, [email protected]

or call 866-686-3036.

Growing Tennis News

CARDIO TENNIS TENNIS WELCOME CENTERS QUICKSTAR

QuickStart Tennis

The QuickStart Tennis format,designed to get kids 10-and-under into the game using age-appropriateequipment, smaller courts and modified scoring,officially debuted in February as part of ESPN TheWeekend in Orlando, Fla., with Martina Navratilo-va and Mary Joe Fernandez helping children oncourt. As of early April, more than 600 facilitieshad registered their QuickStart sites and programinformation. Get on board now by visiting Grow-ingTennis.com or Partners.QuickStartTennis.com.

May 2008 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY 21Join the TIA . . . Increase Your Profits . . . Grow the Game . . . www.TennisIndustry.org


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S U C C E S SmarketingAsk HeadlineB Y L I N E ?


B Y J O E L D R U C KE R

S T R I N G

Luxilon has been getting a lot of play among the tpros, but is this string right for your players?

When it comes to the world of recreational players, justhow valuable are the equipment patterns of the pros?This has always been a tricky question for shop owners.

Most recently, a string thats become a standard among pros isdrawing significant interest among recreational players. Luxilon isa string that turns the age-old notion of a racquet and a string onits head. A s recently as 10 years ago, pros such as Pete Samprasoften used highly resilient, lively gut strings as a means of addinglife to their frames. But Luxilon is completely different.

Luxilon is a dead string. Nate Ferguson, head of Priority One,the company that strings for such pros as Roger Federer, LleytonHewitt and Novak Djokovic, says, Because the string is so dead,the player can swing loose and hard. The result is much more dip,whip and power.

According to ATP pro Paul Goldstein, The rotation you get isdrastically different than with gut. The ball jumps and moves unbe-lievably. A ball that looks like its going way out and then drops likea stonethats what everyone calls a Luxilon shot.

Adds Goldsteins coach, ex-pro Scott McCain, Its changed protennis from linear to parabolic. Its like Ping-Pong out there.

With this kind of acceptance and performance among the toppros, stringers all over the country are finding their customersincreasingly eager to try Luxilon. Neil Rothenberg, an independentstringer based in Piedmont, Calif., who strings racquets at theBerkeley Tennis Club and for the UC Berkeley mens and womensteams, says, Lots of people are asking about Luxilon now. Its verymuch part of my inventory.

But putting this string in racquets is not so simple. Luxilon is a



string fraught with a range of issues and nuances that if notaddressed could lead to significant customer pain.

Youve got to understand the players physical style, as wellas what they can withstand, says David Bone, executive directorof the U.S. Racquet Stringers Association [and co-publisher of RSImagazine]. Shock is a factor with these stiffer strings.

Rothenbergs philosophy is that, To do my job best, I needto ask people q uestions about howthey play and how they hit theball. Fortunately I know a lot aboutthe people I string for, but when Idont know someone, I find out if they have a history of tennis elbowor other injuriesshoulder, wrist.If they insist on trying Luxilon, Iwarn them. Unquestionably thereare some great advantages to itthat is, if you play often and canconsistently generate good rac-quet-head speed.

John Lyons, the global busi-ness director for Wilson SportingGoods, the company that distrib-utes Luxilon, says he makes sureto distinguish between the twokinds of Luxilon Alu Power. Thefirst, Luxilon Alu Power 125, iswhats used by prosa firm,durable string that provides significant control and spin. Thesecond, Alu Power Flouro 123, is a softer, more comfortableversion that Lyons believes is a better first try for recreational

players. (See our playtest review of Alu Power Flouro 123 in the April 2008issue, or visit www.racquetsp orts-industry.com.)

Still, says Lyons, The fact that prosare using something doesnt mean itsnecessarily appropriate for the recre-ational player. The best person for it isa fairly hardcore player, a fairly seriousperson who can really take advantageof this strings special properties.

Former touring pro Chris Lewis,head of Tennis-Experts.com and a

coach at the Woodbridge Tennis Clubin Irvine, Calif., concurs. The personwhos best for this string is someon ewho mostly plays singles and has a biggame with big swings who might belooking for more control, Lewis says.You get used to it when youre whalingat the ball. A lot of juniors Ive workedwith are into it, but the hardness of thestrings can create more injuries to thearm, so its tricky as a young playerdevelops physically.

Most strings will lose a certain per-

centage of their tension in the first few hours, but that doesnthappen with Luxilon. So for more comfort, some pro s will stringLuxilon looser than other strings. While a pro like Goldsteindropped his tension from 58 to 48 with Luxilon, Bones advice forrecreational players is probably 5 to 10 percent less3 to 6pounds lower. Luxilon itself recommends lowering tension by10 percent.

Tim Strawn of Roanoke, Va.-based BaselineRacquet Sports, and founder of GrandSlam-Stringers.com, believes that, In an oversizedracquet, this string has some breathing room.Ive found with fram es 110 inches or larger, itperforms well for a lot of players.

Durability is certainly a benefitbut with adegree of caution. Noting that the strings arepretty much indestructible, Rothenberg puts adate sticker on every frame so that his cus-tomers can keep track of when to get their rac-quet restrung rather than wait for them tobreak. He recommends 5.5 players or rising juniors restring as frequently as every twoweeks.

But for all these comments about Luxilonsproperties and cautions, whats emerged as thebest way to deploy this string is a hybrid mix.You can pretty much mix it up with anything,

says Bone.One approach

is to use Luxilon inthe main stringsand a quality nylonin the crosses.Says Lewis, Thatcan soften it andgive some benefitas far as control-ling the big powershots.

Theres noquestion playerswill continue to becurious about Lux-ilon. With com-mentators like

John McEnroe and Jim Courier ravingabout it on the air-

waves, with more and more pros and aspiring juniors using it, itsbecome a major part of the equipment mix. The wise stringer willbe the one who can properly explain its nuances. Q

3 KEYSFOR YOURCUSTOMERSAre your customers ask-ing to try Luxilon srings?Here are three thingsyou should considerwhen installing Luxilonfor recreational players.

Q Install Luxilon strings5 percent to 10 per-cent looser than nylonstrings.

Q Consider using Luxilonas mains in a hybridwith a softer crossstring.

Q Remember that thesestrings perform bestfor players whoalready generate a lotof spin.

Oakland-based Joel Drucker is one of the world's leading tenniswriters, his work appearing in a variety of print and broadcast media, including Tennis, USTA Magazine, ESPN and Tennis Chan-nel. A technical editor for Patrick McEnroe's book Tennis For Dummies, Drucker's first book, Jimmy Connors Saved My Life,

was published in 2004.


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eve all cringed at the gloomy headlines and omi-nous sound bites that have dominated the newslately. Gas Prices Increase Again. House Foreclo-

sures Are Up. Consumer Confidence Down. Is The U.S. in aRecession? What seems to dominate the news nowadays is theeconomy. And the economy is a mess.

That, of course, would be the bad news. The good news is thatin the tennis industry, things are looking good. Very good.

In fact, there is a lot of good news coming out of the TIA, USTA,manufacturers, retailers and others regarding how tennis, and thebusiness of tennis, is doing. On the following pages, well tell youhow this good news is affecting the various constituents in the ten-

W

Across the board, this sport is growing,

and thats good news for everybody in this industry. B Y P E T E R F R A N C E S C O NI



nis industry, and how youcan keep the momentumgoing.

First, a few facts fromrecent research by the TIAand USTA:Q Tennis participation is up.

At the end of 2007, total

participation was 25.1 mil-lion players, up 3.8 percentover 2006, and the firsttime that figure has broken25 million since 1999.

Q Frequent participation, thatis, those who play tennis 21times or more a year, is up1.2 percent to 5.25 mil-lionan important measure because frequent players are theheart of your market. While this increase from 2006 to 2007appears modest, over the last four years, frequent participation has

risen by 15 percent.Q Racquet shipments are up, both in dollars and units. In wholesaledollars, racquet shipments are up 9.5 percent over 2006, to $121.4million, which is the fourth straight year shipments have increased.In units, racquet shipments have increased over the last four yearsby 42.1 percent.

Q Youth racquet shipments are way up. In the last four years, this cat-egory has grown by 80 percent.

Q Specialty store racquet sales are up 30 percent from 2003 to 2007,showing consistent growth in each of the four years.

Q Ball shipments, which tradi-tionally have been an indica-

tion of the level of play in theU.S., have increased by 15percent since 2003. And thissteady growth comes without ball sales data from some bigdiscount retailers, like Wal-Mart and Target.

Q String shipments to dealersare up 15 percent from 2006to 2007.

Keep in mind, most of thesemeasures have been consistent-ly increasing each year for thelast four years. And its impor-tant to note that when the TIA analyzed two leading economic mea-suresthe Dow Jones Industrial Average and the ConsumerConfidence Indexagainst tennis player participation numbers andequipment shipments over the last six years, they found the tennisnumbers were not affected by the overall downturn in the economy.

It appears that the united effort to help grow the game has beenworking.

STEADY GROWTHHaving four years of steady and consistent growth in both partici-pation and industry sales is the best news we could have, says KurtKamperman, the USTAs chief executive of Community Tennis.

Key, says Kamperman, is making sure the basics are covered. Alot of sports have gone for the quick hit, he says. But weve donea great job of shoring up our infrastructure and making sure we can

support the game, especially when you consider the investment inparks and schools. Weve concentrated on making sure there arepublic facilities to accommodate play, local programs available, andproperly trained people to organize and run those programs.

In fact, so much has been going on in this industry in the last fewyearsfrom many sources, not just the USTAit would be impossi-ble to pinpoint a sole catalyst for the sports growth. Its even possi-ble, maybe likely, that the down economy is helping tennis, aspeople look for things to do closer to home. While people may giveup the big winter ski trip for thousands of dollars, tennis barriers for

entry are really low, saysKevin Kempin, vice president of

sales and marketing forHead/Penn.And close to home, what

youre often seeing are fullcourts. Five years ago I couldgo to the community courts anytime of day and always get acourt, says Doug Booth, theexecutive director of the USTAFlorida Section. Now, I have towait. And whats really excitingis I see children out playing withtheir families.

Getting kids into the gamehas been a huge push in the industry. Recent, and ongoing, initia-tives include the USTA School Tennis program, after-school pro-grams, and now, an industry-wide push for QuickStart Tennis forkids 10 and under. The QST format uses age-appropriate equipment,court size, and scoring to get kids playing quickly and keep themplaying. QST will allow kids 10-and-under to enter the sport on ateam and learn the game while playing on a team.

And one happy consequence of QuickStart and other kids pro-grams may be that parents appear to be coming back to tennis, too,realizing that no matter what their skill level, they can play tenniswith their kids and, importantly, all family members can enjoy theexperience. Industry data shows that rejoiners are up 10.2 percent



since 2003. Also up arecontinuing players, by 5.6percent. And the number of lapsed players, those whohave given up the game, isdown 3.3 percent.

TEAMS

FOR ALL AGESParticipation increases alsoare showing up in adultleagues, both USTA andnon-USTA. USTA Leagues were up 6 percent last year, with310,000 unique players, and almost 700,000 total participants,says Kamperman. Whats interesting is that those players on aver-age play in at least two leagues. The increase in USTA League playhas also helped boost overall USTAmembership, to an all-time high of more than 730,000.

Playing in leagues and on

teams seems to be appealing toplayers of all ages. Combined withQuickStart Tennis and adultleagues, two other key team-basedprograms run by the USTA clearlyare succeeding in getting andkeeping players in the game: High-School No-Cut and Tennis on Cam-pus. Both have shown robustgrowth in just a few years.

I believe a lot of the parentswho have a passion for tennis

know how family-friendly thesport is and what a greatsport it is for their kids,says Jolyn de Boer, theexecutive director of theTennis Industry Associa-tion. Not only are theolder baby-boomersfinding more time toplay themselves, but any from that generation with younger kids aresharing their passion for tennis as a lifetime sport. And it doesnthurt that tennis is relatively inexpensive, too.

Plus, the time factor works to tennis advantage. Courts are pret-ty much readily available in most communities and dont take longto travel to. You can play tennis in an hour or hour-and-a-half. Andyou dont have to pull together 10 or 12 other people like you wouldfor team sports.

MIND AND BODYThen theres the health benefit. People get bored with just workingout with exercise machines, says de Boer. Tennis, on the otherhand, provides a great workout without that boredom. Tennis is agreat mind and body workout; it engages you mentally and physi-cally at the same time.

To help people get into the game, the industry launched the Ten-nis Welcome Center initiative a few years ago. Now, there are more

than 2,100 TWCs pledged tocreate a welcoming environ-ment for new and existingplayers. And to capitalize onthe health benefits, Cardio Ten-nis programs allow partici-pants to burn hundreds of calories, often more than 600,

in a fun, active, 45 minutes oncourt. There are now morethan 800 registered CardioTennis sites.

Increased play also seems to be triggering a building boom. Inthe last three to four years, Ive seen more big public facilities beingbuilt or resurfaced, says Kamperman. Court builders also report anupsurge in building and renovating, especially for public court

projects.Large-scale facilities bring in large-

scale events, too, and communitiesare reaping the benefits as adults and

juniors and their parents travel andstay at tournament locations. In fact,the 60-court public facility in Mobile,Ala., which hosts about 20 tourna-ments a year, has a $28 millionimpact to that city.

Another recent USTA focus isadvocacy. All this positive news isgreat ammunition for volunteersthroughout the country advocating formore tennis courts and more pro-grams in their communities, says

Kamperman. Local providersalready know that tenniscan have a positiveimpact on a communityand on peoples lives,and now through ouradvocacy efforts, moreand more public officialsare realizing this, too.

LEGITIMATE ONCE MOREThe good news isnt just on the recreational tennis side. Profession-al tennis is drawing huge numbers of fans. The US Open has beensetting attendance records for years, and it remains the largest-attended annual sporting event in the world. The 5-year-old Olym-pus US Open Series, which creates a six-week summer season of tennis leading up to the US Open, has also increased interest in thesport and, importantly, has given tennis a regular, weekly home onTV. And, whether American or not, pro players have created inter-esting storylines that help to pull fans into the game.

The combination of all this good news means that, Tennis islegitimately a growth industry again, says Kamperman. And thatsentiment is echoed by a very important groupmanufacturers.

When the numbers are this good, and consistently good, thefirst thing it means is we can continue to invest, says Head/PennsKempin. Yes, were watching our dollars, but were spending

Chart Sources: Sports Marketing Surveys/TIA/USTA


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more. The industry is growing rather than contracting, and thatin turn helps to propel this to continue.

Were already heavily invested grassroots-wise, but werelooking at how we can shift some more of our resources to thegrassroots side to keep this going, says Jon Muir, general man-ager of Wilson. It gives us more confidence that you can planaround growth. In reality, you probably didnt have that mentali-ty five or 10 years ago. In the past, it wasnt so much about o rgan-

ic growth, it was much more market share.Adds Linda Glassel, vice president of marketing for Prince

Sports, Were really excited with the trends in the industry.Were going to keep doing the things that were doing, and wellcontinue to evolve our grassroots programs to help things grow.

Kamperman says the fact that tennis has shown consistentgrowth also means it should start attracting more young teachingpros into the game again. When tennis was stagnant and indecline, we werent getting a lot of new blood.

This legitimacy is apparent in other ways, too. One is thatbig retailers, such as Target and Wal-Mart, are taking notice andcarrying more tennis products. Another is that the sport is show-

ing up more and more in advertising and marketing for non-ten-nis products.Its a great sign that people are buying more racquets, says

Jeff Waters, executive director of the USTA New England Section.And that transcends into more tennis in TV commercials. Weknow those big companies are doing their market research, andthe fact that tennis is good enough to show in their commercialsis a real positive sign.

Overall, marketing in an up industry should produce excitingresults across the boardfor teaching pros, facilities, retailers,court builders, manufacturers and more.

MAINTAINING THE GROWTHBut can this growth continue? Right now, theres no real reasonto think it cant. Kamperman does have some concerns that,while the USTA has brought a lot of resources to bear on com-munity tennis in recent years, the current budget crunch

the organization is going through could impact certain areas.Weve had four good years back to back, he says. Id hate

to see cutbacks in any of our grow-the-game efforts, as I thinkthis has been money well spent, and is a significant reason weveseen this consistent growth.

And of course, there are other challenges. For instance,online registration for lessons, clinics and court sign-up is a majorconvenience for customers and has been a boon to facilities that

have implemented it, resulting in full courts and more play. Butmany facilities still are reluctant to take that step. Players entertournaments and events online, but to book a court or a clinic, atmany facilities you still have to pick up the phone. The TIA hasbeen addressing this by offering various online registrationoptions, and the goo d news is that in the last three years, onlinebookings have dramatically increased and continue to do soevery month.

Another challenge Kamperman points out is what he calls theantiquated way most competitive junior and adult tourna-ments are run. Only a small percentage of adults, kids and fam-ilies have the time or money to spend on traveling to three-day

events, he says. We dont need to eliminate these traditionaltournaments, but we need to start offering more on e-day andhalf-day events that count for rankings.

Many in the industry agree that the gains over the last fewyears would not have come about if competitors in the industrywere not able to put aside their differences and come together.We should never take for granted what these companies andorganizations have done for the good of the sport, says the TIAsde Boer. From his perspective, Kamperman adds, The USTA hasto continue to make sure our resources promote TENNIS, not just the USTA.

Right now, the news in tennis is good, and its something that

you should be trumpeting loudly in your communities. You can,and should, be using all this positive news to be an advocate fortennis.

It will not only keep the sport growing, but it will also keepyour business growing, too. Q



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ty managers to help shed some light on what many would see as ahead-scratching ironyhow can a recreational sport like tennis beflourishing in a down economy?

This is a wonderful dichotomy, a very pleasant surprise, andknock on wood it stays like that, says Ajay Pant, manager of theOverland Park Club in Kansas City, Kan., and national director of ten-nis for the Tennis Corporation of America. We have not in any waysensed a hiccup of any nature on the tennis side in any of our clubs.Were doing exceptionally well.

BRINGING THE FAMILYPant believes the best indicator of the sports local health is reflectedin the volume of Overlands juniormemberships being upgraded tofamily memberships. Nowtheyre bringing the whole familyto play, says Pant, who believestennis provides the perfect vehi-cle for families to bond, especiallywhen times are tough.

I think people build a strongconnection to their families viathis sport, says Pant, and arechoosing to spend more timetogether knowing its an invest-ment in their money. They mayhold off on a new car or expen-sive dinners every weekend, butwhen its crunch time you findthat people choose to come to aplace with a comfort level, withtheir friends and family around.

Thats a lot more fun for people.Another industry leaderbelieves the industrys healthynumbers merely reflect a realadvantage tennis has over manyother recreational optionsit isrelatively inexpensive.

You can play an entire sea-son of league tennis in this areaand it costs only about $20 (forUSTA members), says CarlHodge, director of tennis for thecity of Macon, Ga., a metro areawith 36 public courts at two facili-ties including the John DrewSmith Center. Even when youinclude court costs, its probablyonly $18 or so for court fees andthat covers everything. Whereelse can you have that much funfor so cheap?

That price is right mentalityis shared by Scott Hanover, man-ager of the 14-court Plaza TennisCenter, a public facility in theheart of Kansas City, Mo.

"Even though the economic times are a bit tough, says Hanover,I think tennis survives because as a sport it is still fairly reasonablypriced for equipment like starter racquets and balls, and that attractsboth new and returning players."

WANING COMPETITION?Affordability and being family-friendly may in fact be helping theindustry flourish, but Billy Freer, tennis director at the BrookhavenCountry Club in Dallas, also sees the competition from other sports

like soccer and in-line skating waning as well.Soccer moms are starting to realize tennis as a life sport, its a

better choice than almost any othersport, says Freer. Soccer used tobe going through the roof and nowpeople are starting to realize youcant play soccer when you wantto, or after you graduate. You onlyneed one other person to play ten-nis, you dont need a whole team.All you need is a court and some-one to play with. You can play it

day or night, almost anywhere inany city.I also think that people got

bored with sports like in-line skat-ing and are coming back to tennis,adds Freer, because its a sportyou can continue to learn about, nomatter how good you are. Its avery diversified sport that continu-ally entertains people.

But while the sports indicatorsare all pointing upward, tennis facil-

ities still need to work to keep themomentum.The single biggest mistake is to

sit back and say weve got itmade, Pant says. We need tokeep attracting people and wholefamilies to the sport. To maintainthis momentum, we need to keepdeveloping ways to make this gameeasier for all players and families.

Freer says the industrys pros-perity lies in its ability to attract tal-ented college grads to fill leadershiproles at clubs and facilities.

If you look around, the clubsand facilities that have good tennisdirectors are doing very well, saysFreer. I think the key is for tennisto attract good, qualified youngpeople who have business andmarketing degrees whove alsoplayed four years of college tennis.We desperately need these kinds of people coming into the industry.We need these kinds of people tochoose tennis as their future. Q

MAINTAINING THE MOMENTUMWhile the economy remains volatile and about as predictable as a RogerFederer serve, what can club owners do to maintain their currentmomentum, or maybe even add to it?

Q Run modified events. Ajay Pant says modified events, such asparent/child events using foam balls and/or modified racquets, allowsall levels and ages to participate and be competitive. We sell outthese tournaments every time, says Pant. We have to get them play-

ing as quickly as we can by utilizing transitional equipment.Q Take special care of members and guests. In any business,

customer service is huge, but especially in tennis, says Carl Hodge.Make sure people know that theyre welcome, then offer quality pro-grams and stay well organized. But covering customer service is themost important thing.

Q Reach out, network, and establish industry relationships.Stay abreast of what is happening in the industry, says ScottHanover. And keep networking. Also, try new things, and don't bediscouraged if they don't work. Just try something else."

Q Go for variety beyond tennis, too. Charlotte Hermann says otheramenities, such as fitness equipment or racquetball, are important, too,and will bring in a more diverse client base.



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he tennis industry's front-line troops are riding the crest of outstanding industry news. And while there may be nostandard measure, teaching pros acknowledge the steady,

and sometimes exploding, increase in lesson hours.As Mike Woody puts it, "I look at our industry and I don't see

barriers, I see only opportunities." Woody, a USPTA Professional 1and executive director of the 32-court Midland (Mich.) CommunityTennis Center, says 2007 was one of their best racquet-stringingyears ever and notes ball sales, lessons and "court utilization" allroseand are continuing to do so.

For Woody, marketing the sports traditional benefits is payingoff in increased lessons and play. Thanks at least in part to the Car-dio Tennis program rolled out in 2005, consumers have(re)discovered that in a couple of hours a week they can play, havefun, socialize and get their cardio health benefits. And the Quick-Start Ten nis format "has really pinpointed a market that we can dobetter at, says Woody. That's helped us. When you have a bignational campaign, that affects us locally."

Even the USTA, which in years past has been a target of criti-

cism about the sports lackluster grassroots growth, is now receiv-

T

With the public finally realizing albenefits that tennis provides, teachprosand the sport itselfarebeginning to cash in.

B Y K E N T O S WA LD



ing its share of praise for the good news. Shella Augspurger,women's tennis coach at Newman University and a teachingpro at the Wichita, Kan., Riverside Tennis Center and Reflec-tion Ridge Golf and Swim Club, is one of many who believethe national organization deserves credit for the swell of inter-

est. The USTA has done a great job opening up tennis atevery level, from youngest to oldest, she says.

Augspurger also credits touring professionals, who looklike they are having more fun playing than in years past, asenticing new students and encouraging fre-quent play. Even electronic gaming has influ-enced participation. People who have playedvideo tennis "want to hit with me just to seeif they can do what they do on TV."

When Augspurger first arrived in Wichitasix years ago, she says, There was nothinggoing on. Now, Im getting complaints that

people can't get courts to play on."

SEEKING COMFORTThat timetable fits with what Craig Jones,director of tennis at the Petersburg (Ga.) Rac-quet Club, has noticed, too. He believesmany people stayed at home, seeking safetyand comfort, after Sept. 11, 2001. But, ironi-cally, the current credit crisis is encouragingpeople to go out and seek more social situa-tions. As an example, he points out that atthe PRC, league play has doubled measured

against 10 years ago, when it was about 40percent of the non-lesson business.The theor y that relative bad times for the

economy can still be good times for tennis ispervasive. USPTA CEO Tim Heckler says hesees tennis lessons as recession-proof. "Peo-ple want to stay healthy and fit regardless of the economic climate, Heckler says. Typi-cally, when people are faced with hard eco-nomic times, they will have to cut out yearlyvacations, but they make up for that byspending more time at the tennis club orfacility."

Sarah Witherspoon, an instructor withMacon (Ga.) Tennis Connect and coordinatorof their adult and junior programs, says thekeys to her facility's recent success are eco-nomic and social. Tennis is "not as expensiveas the rumor used to be," she says. Actually,one of her biggest problems concerns thesocial aspect. She isn't able to move on manyfolks from the group lessons because theyare motivated by the friendships they'vemade. Her solution has been to move wholegroups into league play to open up lessontime for more beginners.

Witherspoon has watched adults "discover" tennis as anactivity that keeps them in touch with their kids, also a keytactic for the Four Seasons Racquet Club in Wilton, Conn.Greg Moran, the Four Seasons director of tennis, says theclub's success is certainly not an accident or reliant on tennis

as a fad."There's a lot more beyond just coming here, taking your

lesson and leaving," Moran says. "We strive for a family feel."A metric of that success is about 700 kids in Four

Seasons junior programs.And sometimes all this good news

can be bittersweet. "Last year was thefirst year we had to turn people away,says Moran, There were times when wewere simply full.

FIRING

UP THE ENGINEBut there may be a dark cloud on thehorizon. Dan Santorum, CEO of the PTR,is as bullish as anyone on the sports cur-rent prospects, talking up the variousnew initiatives and the public's aware-ness of the sport's health benefits andrelatively low cost. Rather than hearingcomplaints about business or lack of lessons as in years past, the biggest prob-lem most people are sharing with him isfinding teaching pros. Still, the econom-

ics for teaching pros is a bit vexing forSantorum.With all the new programs, people

are going to be learning quicker andstarting play sooner, and because of theemphasis on health, they will stay with itlonger. All of it will increase the need fortennis professionals. But, says Santorum,"salarie s are like tennis ballstheyre thesame as they were 20 years ago."

He expects many of the "first genera-tion" of teaching prosthose who took itup in the 1960sto be retiring within thenext five to 10 years. He worries thereisn't the financial incentive necessary toattract the necessary number of newteaching pros.

Whether it is club owners or the prosthemselves, someone has to overcomeconsumer resistance to increased lessonprices so good teachers can be properlycomp ensated. Teaching pros are theengine, Santorum says. They drive thisindustry.

And we need to keep the enginestoked to keep the good news coming. Q

KEEPING THEBALL IN PLAYTeaching pros may well be the mostimportant factor in the growth of ten-nis in recent years, and in its contin-ued growth in the future. Here are just a few ways you can continue tonot only grow the game, but growyour income, too.

Q Gain marketing muscle. Tie intonational programs launched by thePTR, USPTA, USTA, TIA and othergroups.

Q Consider more group lessons.With players in groups, you canemphasize the social aspects of thegame, keep costs down to players,and maximize revenue to pros byhaving more players on court atone time. Also, arrange it so friendsor teammates can be in grouplessons together, making it morefun for all.

Q Expand your relationshipswith your players. It should beabout more than just giving a les-son and sending them on theirway. Invite them to involve theirfriends and family in the program.

Q Don't cookie-cutter lessonplans. Get student feedback.Retention depends on getting theright coachor developing the rightlesson plan, rather than just tryingto fit everyone into the samesystem.

Q Keep new players involved.For example, QuickStart Tennis orCardio Tennis keeps everyone mov-ing, not just the student at thehead of an eight-person line.



The upsurge in tennis is providing more building andrenovating opportunities, but court builders need to mark themselves now. B Y M A R Y H E L E N S P R E C H ER

C o ur t e s y M u n s o n I n c .



ennis is surging in this country, and builders and suppli-ers in the tennis court market are already seeing harbin-gers of that growth, particularly at the parks and

recreation level, where many new players will be starting out.We have seen a huge increase in inquiries and construction

in the park and rec departments, as well as the school markets,since the end of the third quarter of 2007, says Rick Burke of Chattanooga, Tenn.-based NG I Sports Inc. The first quarter of 08

has already shown to be more active than the past with inquiriesfor tennis court reconstruction for these areas up over 300 per-cent.

Fred Manchester of Manchester Tennis Courts in Lexington,S.C., has noticed an uptick in requests for bids not just in newconstruction, but in reconstruction of existing facilitiesa bettersign than wanting to turn tennis courts into basketball courts orplaygrounds. In the past three months, I hav e seen requests forbids from seven different government sources,says Manchester. These projects have rangedfrom top dressing to hard-court resurfacing, toasphalt overlays to new construction to enlarge

existing facilities.Those interested in renovating or building new

public courts have been calling places like theAmerican Sports Builders Association and request-ing construction documents. Tennis is on theright track, says Carol Hogan, executive vice pres-ident of the ASBA. Finally.

MAKING IT HAPPENThe bad news? There is no real bad newsjust acaveat, really. Those who want to take advantageof the new wave need to start nownot next sea-

son, not in the off-season and certainly not someday.Richard Zaino of Zaino Tennis Courts in

Orange, Calif., says his company regularly reachesout to municipalitieswithout asking for a return.

We advertise and make available guidelinesand specifications to the cities and schools forrepairs, resurfacing and construction, Zaino says.We provide these free to the owners along withinspections and budget costs. Zaino also pro-vides recommendations and information tohomeowners associations, but believes he couldbe more proactive in promoting the game.

If promoting the game itself seems to be out-side the job description of builders and suppliers,think of the trickle-down effect: With more courtsbeing built and rehabbed at high sc hools, colleges,then at homes, there will be more players (not tomention more work for builders). Then, howabout more Grand Slam winners coming from theU.S.? The possibilities are there.

We in the industry would do well to contactall types of entities to help promote tennis, says Jonnie Deremo of General Acrylics Inc. in Phoenix.Deremo believes contractors should reach out tocity councils, parks and recs, non-profit youth pro-

grams, school athletic directors, police athletic leagues, fresh-airfund camps and more.

I think the biggest thing we all can do now is to talk about oursuccess and think tennis as we plan meetings, promote socialevents and our own activities, says John Welborn of Lee Tennisin Charlottesville, Va. If, knowing what we know, we are not play-ing more and more tennis, we don't have any chance of influenc-ing others for the game.

As a company, we live and breathe tennis. You have to live itto fan the flame. Q

MAKING IT HAPPEN FOR TENNISBy helping to market thegame of tennis, builders and suppliers can greatlyinfluence the number of players in this country.

Q Bring tennis into the schools. Supply gym teachers with court dia-grams and information for programs and for-mats for kids, such as the new QuickStartTennis format, and possibly with donations of blue painting tape or other tape to createtemporary court lines. Hold equipment drivesand donate old racquets. If the schools them-selves dont have courts, give them a list of public facilities so kids can practice theirgames.

Q Join your local Community TennisAssociation. If you volunteer your exper-tise in your local CTA, maybe by becominga consultant to the group, youll be helpingto promote tennis in your area. Also,though, youll be promoting your business,

too.Q Promote the image of tennis. Sponsor

appearances by professional athletes to givedemos to kids. For tennis to survive, evengrow, it has to be fun, cool and accessible,says the ASBAs Carol Hogan. The USTA,TIA and others have it right. Get it in theschools. Get it in the parks. Make inexpen-sive equipment available. Teach people toplay at any age, but especially the young.

Q Convince tournament directors to

donate blocks of tickets to rec pro-grams, boys and girls clubs and oth-ers. Richard Zaino suggests getting kidsinterested by letting them see tennis playedwell.

Q Stress the lifelong aspect of thesport. John Welborn and others recom-mend marketing to baby boomers, not justthe new kids on the block.

Q Be a player. By encouraging friends andassociates, you too can impact the growthof the game, says Rick Burke.

T

MAKING IT HAPPENFOR YOUTo keep tennis on the upswing, courtbuilders need to make sure they continueto market themselves to schools, cities andmore. Here are some hints from successfulbuilders.

Q Reach out to municipalities. I domailings to city, county and state pur-chasing departments, says Fred Man-chester. I also try to network with tennisprofessionals. I have found that if thedirector at a tennis center has a child in

public school and they are in the know asto what is being considered.

Q Keep lines of communication open.Richard Zaino and Jonnie Deremo areamong those who stay in contact withcity and school construction departments.

Q Help other programs grow. I findmyself talking to a lot of people whosewish list exceeds their budget, saysManchester, who has donated time andequipment to facilities that have neededto do in-house maintenance work. TomMagner of Deco Turf in Andover, Mass.,notes that his company often directsmunicipalities to grant opportunities thatthey may not be aware of, including theNRPA's Tennis in the Parks Initiative andthe USTA's Adopt-A-Court program.

Q Advertise in industry publications,and in those read by your targetaudience. Dont wait until next season,dont wait until that big job comes in. Doit now .



Business remains goodfor most tennis retailers,and there are somestrategies you can use tokeep it going.B Y T O N Y L A N C E

C o ur t e s y T e n n i s a n d G o l f C o m p a n y



or tennis retailers today, its both the best of times andperhaps the worst of times. While the tennis businesscontinues to grow, the overall economic climate

means that the actual costs of running your business areincreasing. How do you successfully navigate this potentiallytricky environment?

It all boils down to how are you going to find and keeployal customers, says Michael Levy, professor of marketing atBabson College and former editor of the Journal of Retailing.

And for specialty shops such as tennis retailers, the way to dothis is through building community.

Leaders in the tennis retail arena agree, noting that main-taining close ties with your market and building productivepartnerships is the basis of success, regardless of the state of the greater economy. This is an approach that Tiffany Graysonof Coach Matts Tennis in Atlanta employs as the basis of herbusiness strategy.

We partner with local events and teams in a 5- to 7-mileradius of our stores, she says. For example, if a team makesthe city or state playoffs, we have an in-store event for them.And we support grassroots programs in our backyard.

The retailers are the ones who are really interacting withthe consumer and the more they can maintain the interestlevel and excitement of the people wanting to play more, youget more vested in the sport, says Wilson General Manager Jon Muir.

Not only does this build and maintain customer loyalty,Levy says it gives retailers the chance to identify and targetopinion leaders who set trends at the community level. SteveVorhaus of Rocky Mountain Racquet Specialists in Boulder,Colo. agrees. We always try to maintain a close relationshipwith local tennis pros who refer their clients to our business,he says.

CUSTOMER SERVICEOnce you have the customer in the store, then you have toknow how best to serve them. For smaller stores, which typi-cally cannot compete on price and selection, Levy says, Theymust excel in customer service and product expertise.

As a specialty retailer, says Vorhaus, we stress all thethings that differentiate us from the big boxes and internetmerchants: demo programs, great selection of products, state-of-the art stringing and other services, and the opportunity totalk to our expert staff one on one, whether it's about string-ing, racquet choice or fit and fashion in apparel.

And Grayson emp hasizes the hospitality element. Wetake a boutique approach and try to make our stores touchy-feely, she says. We want customers to feel they can comein, hang out and talk about their latest match or whats hap-pening in professional tennis while theyre shopping or gettingtheir racquet restrung.

Woody Schneider of Grand Central Racquets in New YorkCity takes specialization to the extreme. Although he offers arespectable selection of racquets, shoes and accesso ries in histwo small Manhattan stores (he also runs the shop at the USTABillie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows,N.Y.), his business is built around offering tour-quality string-ing service.

I spend extra money to make sure all my machines are

consistently calibrated and I make sure my staff is the best.We are, first and foremost, stringers, Schneider says.

Muir supports this strategy. "For retailers, I would definite-ly focus on service. As newplayers come in and exist-ing players rejoin, the bet-ter service the retailers canprovide, through stringing,new product education

those are always going tobe constants to support theretailer's business and theindustry.

But even with theprospect of a prolongedeconomic slowdown, mosttennis retailers areunfazed. For us the econo-my is good and plenty of money is out there, saysMichael Lynne of Michael

Lynnes Tennis Shop inMinneapolis.

Chris Gadreau of Rac-quet Koop in New Haven,Conn., feels much thesame way. An economicdownturn will not affectour business, he says.People will still play tennisand the demographic wetarget will be less affectedby a slowdown.

This sentiment appearsto be broadly held. "Withretailers, there's a solid airof optimism, says KevinKempin, vice president of sales and marketing forHead/Penn. I think theprevailing notion is thatwhile tennis is not com-pletely recession-proof,retailers feel really goodabout the equipment seg-ment.

And in some cases,recession can bring oppor-tunity. Schneider hasnoticed that the weak dol-lar has resulted in an unex-pected increase in businessfrom foreign visitors toNew York City.

A lot of my racquetsalesit feels like its abouthalf, though it probably isntare to tourists, particularlySouth Americans, who are taking advantage of the relativestrength of their currency against the dollar, he says. Q

BOND INITIATIVESCreating stronger connections with yourmarket improves the odds of your busi-ness growingin good times and bad.

Consider these tips for bonding withyour customers.

Q Advertise intelligently. Manyretailers may find that conventionalprint ads may not be the most effectiveuse of their money. Increasingly, con-sumers are using the internet to findwhat theyre looking for. Make sure youhave a website and keep it updated.Also, major equipment manufacturershave store locators on their own web-sites. Be certain your establishment islisted and the information is correct.

Q Make friends. Get to know theteaching pros, coaches, and top playersin your area. These folks mold opinionsand influence buying patterns. Partner-ing with them exposes your business tocustomers you may not reach otherwise.And dont overlook junior players. Kidsshape trends much more readily thanadults. Be aware of their productaffinities.

Q Nurture new players. A steadystream of beginning players ensuresthat your tennis community will remainstrong despite inevitable attrition. Spon-sor junior programs at your local clubsand encourage your public parks depart-ment to get in on the action as well.Dont forget seniors. Not only do theyhave the time and money needed totake up a new sport, they tend to beloyal and community-minded.

Q Be an expert. Your biggest asset isa thorough knowledge of your productsand services and your ability to relatethis information to your customers. Stayon top of the latest developments intechnology and the trends in the game,both at the recreational and profession-al levels. The more players learn to relyon you for expertise and guidance, themore indispensable you become.

F


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43/52May 2008 RACQUET SPORTS INDUSTRY41

Players, it appears, no longer just want thecheap stuff in their frames.

In the tennis retail arena, stringing andracquet services are no longer add-on items.In recent years, both dealers and manufac-

turers have realized the importance of thissegment in the marketplace. Consumersmay not necessarily be more knowledge-able about their equipment and in particulartheir strings, but they are asking more ques-tions. The opinion of several dealers acrossthe country att ributes the consumers questfor knowledge to several factors.

Our customers are asking more ques-tions, says John Gugel of eTennis in Florida,which are being driven by TV commenta-tors to a great extent, and teaching pros to a

lesser extent, and the internet.TV broadcasters are talking more about

the strings and racquets that players useand consumers are seeing that the prosvalue the role their strings play in their per-formance. Manufacturers are spendingmoney to market and advertise stringsmore than ever. The internet provides anopportunity for them to make availablemore information about all their productsthrough their own websites as well as deal-er sites and those of industry organizations.

Dealers can use the tools provided by themanufacturers to draw attention to stringingand educate players to its importance in their overallperformance.

By making the consumer more aware, there is a great oppor-tunity to introduce the player to premium strings that are specifi-cally suited for their racquet and style of play. This means theplayer will not only feel better about their game, but they will like-ly play more often.

MARKETING STRINGSManufacturers are marketing stringing on several fronts. Forinstance, Head is the official string and racquet of the USPTA.Our affiliation with the USPTA is one of our best endeavors topromote our brand at the grassroots level, says Ben Simons of Head. Simons introduced the Please String Responsibly cam-paign for Head dealers last year.

While we have been a major player in the industry with rac-quets, we are relatively new with strings, says Simons. Thecampaign is a fun way to point out the importance of putting apremium string into a premium racquet. Our sales have seen sub-stantial growth, especially in the premium string category.

Companies are providing dealers with point-of-sale items suchas posters, char ts and floor mats to catch the eye of the stringingconsumers.

We offer our dealers anti-fatigue mats with our slogan and

logo printed on them to dress up the string-ing area and provide a little comfort to thestringer, adds Simons. We also offer polybags to put finished racquets in just like thepros. All of the point-of-purchase mer-

chandising is backed up with advertising inmajor tennis magazines.

Wilson Sports has made a big effort toincrease their presence in the st ring marketby establishing the Wilson Pro Tour String-ing Team. The team is the official on-sitestringing service for the US Open. Wilsonalso initiated the String Maniacs programlast year that utilizes racquet technicians atWilson dealers from across the country totest new strings and grips and provide thecompany with feedback on the products

and programs.And important in all thisand a good

sign that stringing, and tennis on thewhole, is moving upwardis the inves t-ment that manufacturers are making inpremium-priced string. For instance, Wil-son with its [K]Gut, Prince with Recoil,Gamma with Asterisk, and Tecnifibre withX-One Bi-Phase and NRG are introducing awhole new tier to the string market, onethat pushes the premium-string envelopeto near natural gut prices. While some deal-

ers expressed skepticism about whetherconsumers will pay these higher prices,manufacturers clearly feel this market, and the sport, is worth theinvestment.

PROFIT MARGINBuying programs are another important incentive manufacturersprovide to dealers. Strings sales should provide the highest profitmargin in a tennis store or pro shop. With the labor cost factoredin, most retailers report margins of 60 to 80 percentcertainlymore than other categories.

You can make a pretty good margin on stringing with a stringthat you didn't pay very much for, says Gugel. We use stringsthat are proven and not necessa rily the least expensive, but we donot pass up a really valuable string program.

In addition to standard volume discount programs, manymanufacturers will work with their dealers on creative ways topromote their products. I've entered into an agreement with oneof my vendors to use a specific premium string in all of mydemos, says Pavlich. This vendor gave me a very good priceand it has resulted in higher sales of this and other premiumstring. Its a good way to get premiu m string on the minds of thecustomer.

With all signs pointing up for our industry, dont let yourstringing sales lag behind. With a careful buying plan and somecreative marketing, you can make your No. 1 profit center soar. Q

STRING THEM ALONGQ Educate consumers about stringing.

It can lead them to premium strings, whichcan both make them perform better andadd to your bottom line.

Q Use manufacturers point-of-pur-

chase material. They help get the wordout about what you offer and about yourracquet-service business.

Q Take a chance on premium strings.Concerned that your customers may notwant to pay higher prices for string? Letthem decidethey may well be looking forsomething that will help their games, evenif it costs them more. Explore the possibili-ties of what these new strings can do foryour players.

Q Have a mechanism to get players torestring regularly. Whether its a soft-ware program that automatically sends outemail reminders, or note cards you keep ina constantly updated file, or free testingyou offer players to see when theyvedropped tension, get your players torestring regularly.

Q Work with customers to find theright string for them. Once you get aplayer hooked on a string, you have built-inrepeat business.


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he Florence Tennis Association in South Carolina has aproblema very good problem. Visit any of the local pub-lic courts in the evening, and chances are youll see peo-

ple waiting patiently for their turn to play. Our community isseeing the boom in tennis, says FTA President Ed Sprenger.More kids and adults are playing, and people are coming back totennis.

Increases in play have been witnessed across the country, withthe sport riding a wave of healthy growth unseen by other tradi-tional sports. In fact, six years ago, as tennis was about to enter itscurrent trend of participation increases, the FTA approached thecity council to advocate for a new 30-court facility to handle thehundreds of local citizens vying for court time on its existing 16city courts and five county courts. And they had a very convincingargument to presenttennis brings in about $3 million in eco-nomic impact to the Florence area annually.

The facility construction project is now in Florences proposed2008-09 fiscal year budget, to be built on 22 acres of donated land.Its proof positive that with tennis popularity on the upswing, nowis the perfect time for CTAs and parks to advocate for tennis needsin their areas. Advocacy is huge, says Sprenger. The communi-ty has to know who you are and what youre doing.

The best plan of action? Be a part of your communitySprenger says. Educate them as to what you are doing, the bene-fits of it, and why somebody would want to be involved.

TENNI

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