Excitement is building for The Tennis Show 2014, an evening celebration of the business of tennis at New York's Grand Hyatt Hotel on Sunday, August 24, 2014. Click here to register! Hundreds of tennis industry leaders, executives, and professionals are expected to be on hand for this one-of-a-kind event. The Tennis Show 2014 is being held in conjunction with the collaborative Tennis Teachers Conference.

Join your industry at the Grand Hyatt, New York, on Sunday, August 24th, for the 2014 Tennis Show, held in conjunction with the collaborative Tennis Teachers Conference just days before the 2014 US Open! This event will be a celebration of the business of tennis including an Exhibitor Show along with the 7th Annual TIA Forum and Tennis Industry Hall of Fame Induction.

The first quarter of the year has been a busy one here at the Tennis Industry Association as we continue to work towards our mission of promoting the growth and economic vitality of the industry

The 2014 tennis season has officially kicked off in the U.S. and various segments of the trade are supporting a "Restring for Spring" campaign to get consumers into retail stores to "tune-up" their racquets.

Despite a strong start to the holiday season in 2013, where pro/specialty retailers saw a 4% increase in racquet units sold and a 7% increase in racquet dollar sales in November, year-end figures were down compared to the previous year. Racquet unit sales in the channel were down significantly in Q1 (-14%), which had a significant impact on total sales for the year as remaining quarters saw smaller losses in units sold.

In a recently released article on Market Watch, it appears that some retailer's concern regarding "showrooming" - where a consumer comes into a brick and mortar store to view/test products and then goes home and purchases online  - may be somewhat misguideded.

The start of the holiday shopping season brought good news to the pro/specialty segment of the tennis industry in 2013. In what has been a challenging year in terms of "sell through" for racquets among pro/specialty retailers, November racquet sales saw an increase of 4% in unit sales over 2012.

As much as many people may hate it, or rather it is perceived to be hated, email is still an effective way to not only communicate with your customers, but also drive sales for your retail business. There are a variety of stats and figures to the contrary to show that email marketing is STILL an effective way to increase consumer engagement and potentially drive sales for a business.

Virgil Christian, the director of market development for the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA), has been named “Person of the Year” for 2013 by Tennis Industry magazine in the publication’s January 2014 issue. Christian led off the magazine’s 13th annual “Champions of Tennis Awards,” which honors people, businesses and organizations dedicated to improving the sport and business of tennis.

With the launch of PlayTennis.com and the industry's concentrated efforts to drive traffic to the site, it is more important than ever to get your retail information posted or up-to-date in the GrowingTennis System managed by the TIA. The tennis industry is driving consumers to PlayTennis.com so they can quickly and easily find places to play, search for tennis retailers, connect with tennis teaching professionals, and find tennis programming in their area. The key portal to get listed on this consumer site is at www.GrowTennis.com.