Susan DiBiase, the U.S. director of marketing for tennis company Babolat, has been named “Person of the Year” for 2012 by Racquet Sports Industry magazine in the publication’s January 2013 issue. DiBiase led off the magazine’s 12th annual “Champions of Tennis Awards,” which honors people, businesses and organizations dedicated to improving the sport and business of tennis.

LONDON — The ATP and Emirates announced today a new global partnership in which Emirates will become the Official Airline of the ATP World Tour, as well as the new title sponsor of the ATP Rankings, as of 1 January 2013.

As part of the five-year agreement, Emirates becomes an Official Platinum Partner of the ATP World Tour, as well as the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, through 2017. Benefiting from global promotional rights together with an on-site presence at tournaments throughout the season, the partnership will enable Emirates to engage with viewers across a number of different mainstream and digital platforms.

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SC (Dec. 13, 2012) — Greg Mason, the vice president of sales and marketing for Head Penn, will be the president of the Tennis Industry Association for 2013-2014. He succeeds Wilson Racquet Sports General Manager Jon Muir, who was president for the last four years and remains on the TIA’s Executive Committee.

The United States Professional Tennis Association, the world’s leader in tennis-teaching certification, provides tennis-teaching professionals with the opportunity to earn the sport’s most respected certification by participating in one of more than 150 USPTA Certification Exams scheduled nationwide in 2013 (click here to view). Additional dates will be added.

This past year has seen exciting developments in the Cardio Tennis program. New technologies and tools have been added to the program offering to help tennis businesses create even more revenue, as well as welcome more people to tennis.  Hundreds of new coaches, both in the United States and globally have attended training courses to become Licensed Cardio Tennis professionals. As we look back on our progress for 2012 we are pleased with the growth in the program in other countries and at home, yet we realize there are many opportunities to further enhance Cardio Tennis and we will continue to work on building upon the successes of the past seven years.

The US$500,000 Shenzhen Longgang Gemdale Open, a WTA International Series event, is proud to be able to announce that 42 year old “super come back athlete” Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan, will be playing at the Shenzhen Longgang Tennis Center, 29 December, 2012 to 5 January, 2013.

In a statement released today by the ATP World Tour, the organization voiced its support of the increase in prize money for the 2013 US Open and shared its concerns of the scheduling change for the 2013 men's final.

This past year was very successful year in terms of training new coaches to deliver the Cardio Tennis program. Hundreds of tennis coaches, both in the US and abroad, attended Cardio Tennis training courses in 2012. To keep the momentum going, ensure quality control and safety, and to continue growth of the program throughout the various regions of the US and the world, a robust schedule of training courses is being developed for 2013.  Certified teaching professionals who attended a Cardio Tennis Training workshop also receive CEU's from the PTR and MAP Points from the USPTA. Upon completion of the course will be a licensed cardio tennis professional.

The TIA will be hosting a FREE business enrichment webinar with a retail specific focus on January 15, 2013 from 2-3 PM EST, presented by the retail consulting firm Gluskin Townley Group. The focus of this webinar will be "Planning for the Future."

An annual business plan may seem like the last thing you want to spend time on when you come back to your retail store after celebrating the New Year…but the four or five days you dedicate to preparing the 2013 plan for your retail business are the most valuable you are going to spend working on your business all year!

Click Here to Register

Tennis participation in the U.S. grew 4% in 2012, topping 28 million players for the first time since 2009, according to an annual survey by the U.S. Tennis Association and Tennis Industry Association. It's the second highest total number of players recorded since the survey began in 1988.