As with many sports, tennis has both professional and amateur aspects, with its business metrics including ticket sales, event attendance and prize money.
Tennis participation continues to expand across the US, as more people from diverse ethnic backgrounds play. This surge is propelled by inclusive programming for children.
USTA
The United States Tennis Association is a non-profit organisation dedicated to the advancement and growth of tennis in America. Comprised of 17 sections with thousands of volunteer support for expanding the sport, this association hosts various tournaments both amateur and professional throughout its 17 sections across 17 states across America.
The United Tennis Association uses the National Tennis Rating Program to assess players and rank them, keeping track of each tournament and match they attend throughout the year, then compiling that information at season’s end to determine an overall rank for them.
The USTA is dedicated to supporting college varsity tennis programs through its USTA Tennis On Campus initiative and community initiatives such as its National Junior Tennis League League chapters and accreditation of Professional Tennis Management degree programs nationwide.
WTA
Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) is the undisputed world leader of professional women’s tennis, offering more than $129 Million in prize money across 55 tournaments and four Grand Slams. Additionally, WTA provides coaching programs and opportunities that aid future female tennis players.
Billie Jean King established the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) in 1973 to bring women’s professional tennis players under one umbrella tour. As such, this organization organizes and regulates women’s professional tennis tournaments while ranking female athletes based on performance.
At present, 32 different companies are officially affiliated with the ATP, WTA and ITF, including e-commerce partners such as Tennis-Point and TopCourt as well as social media brands, gaming/betting firms, educational and fitness organisations, wearables company WHOOP and betting/gambling firms. Furthermore, in 2021 the WTA announced a partnership with wearables company WHOOP and launched the first ever joint commercial deal with mobile game Tennis Clash – all three having equal partnerships within these organizations.
ATP
ATP is the premier men’s professional tennis tour. They organize and run tournaments worldwide and award players points based on their performances at these tournaments, qualifying eight singles and doubles teams each year to compete at season’s end for The ATP Finals championship as well as maintaining World Rankings.
Established in 1972, the Association of Tennis Professionals is a player-run body which protects their interests as members. Jack Kramer, Donald Dell, Cliff Drysdale and Jim McManus can be considered founding fathers of this player-centric association.
ATP Media is the global sales, broadcasting and production arm of the ATP Tour. Offering an end-to-end content solution with rights sales, digital distribution, production services and worldwide fibre and satellite production; this one-stop content solution is made available to ATP Tour partners and customers worldwide with offices located throughout Americas, Europe and Australia.
ITF
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the global governing body of tennis. As such, its governance responsibilities include creating and amending rules of tennis; overseeing international team competitions; and upholding and protecting its integrity as a sport. Furthermore, ITF sanctions circuits tailored towards specific age ranges as well as wheelchair and beach tennis competition.
The ITF organizes two major international team competitions each year – Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup – along with overseeing its management at Summer Olympics for International Olympic Committee (IOC). Furthermore, ITF sponsors all four Grand Slam tournaments while overseeing their organization.
ITF membership dues finance its operations; these funds go toward supporting development programs, science and technical departments as well as officiating training. Governance for ITF lies with its Congress, comprised of voting delegates from every affiliate union.
ITHF
The International Tennis Hall of Fame (ITHF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving tennis history and honoring its greatest champions, while inspiring a new generation of players through education and mentorship programs. Their Board of Governors recently appointed Dan Faber CEO and Patrick McEnroe President respectively.
Even with its extensive collection, the ITHF realized it would be difficult to cater to its large fanbase with only a physical museum in Newport, Rhode Island. That’s why they turned to Braid to strengthen their digital identity and begin sharing their collections online with everyone around the globe.
SP Athletics was suggested by a colleague as a partnership that combined deep understanding of tennis with over three decades of C-suite talent recruitment experience, plus global connections – an invaluable asset for any sports organization seeking the perfect candidate.
USPTA
The United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA) is the global leader in tennis-teacher certification and professional development. Their mission is to raise the standards of tennis teachers and coaches while offering cutting-edge tools and programs that assist their members with creating profitable teaching businesses, expanding careers and furthering tennis as a sport.
USPTA hosted over 170 educational events and activities, and administered over 126 certification exams during 2017. They also introduced their new website and Blackboard ULTRA online education platform which provide members with additional resources while improving customer experiences.
USPTA recently made another change that will help streamline player selection for tournaments ranked tournaments: consolidating its sections into one national ranking system with no separate regional sections anymore. All certified pros must now become Safe Play compliant and get a background check every two years, all done free of cost to either club or pro.
USRSA
USRSA is a not-for-profit association of dues-paying racquet stringers. Its objectives include certifying members’ competence in and knowledge of stringing equipment; conducting research to remain cutting edge; disseminating information to interested players, as well as serving as an exchange forum among stringers themselves.
The Association has developed a new website, providing stringers and serious players with various tools. A special interactive database allows users to search for discontinued racquets and find out if there is a suitable replacement string available.
Stringers Digest Online offers another feature, offering a library of stringing patterns for specific racquets as well as comprehensive playtest reports. Visitors to this database may access it from any computer and at any time using temporary username and password access – with access available 24/7 allowing searching by racquet name, stringing pattern or even specific searchable patterns such as Pro Staff 6.5 Stretch Oversize 110 with Hyper Carbon stringing patterns.