All Pickleball articles
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News briefsTarget jumps on the pickleball trend
Source: Prince Prince for Target US retail giant Target has announced a limited-time pickleball collection in collaboration with tennis and lifestyle brand Prince. According to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association’s (SFIA) 2023 Topline Participation Report, pickleball is the fastest growing sport in the US, and now ...
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News briefsCenterline Athletics debuts line, partners with pro pickleball player
Centerline Athletics, a new player in the performance apparel market, recently launched its line, targeting both men and women. The brand kicked off with a strategic partnership with Thomas Wilson, a Top 10 Pro Pickleball Association (PPA) athlete. Centerline Athletics says it distinguishes itself with its innovative Griptek technology, promising ...
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News briefsRayox foresees a Spanish pickleball boom
Two years ago, three Spaniards – Samuel Rodríguez, Daniel Rodríguez and Jordi Francés – founded a racquet factory in the US – in Waterbury, Connecticut, to be exact. They called it Rayox Sport. “Samuel told us from the US that pickleball was sweeping the market, and we decided to take ...
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News briefsThe pickleball league merger is complete
The Carvana PPA Tour and MLP (Major League Pickleball) by Margaritaville have completed their merger into a “unified and definitive professional pickleball holding company,” with the help of $75 million from private-equity firm SC Holdings, D.C. Pickleball Team owner Al Tylis, PPA Tour owners Tom Dundon and the Pardoe family, ...
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News briefsAgassi joins another pickleball board
Life Time, a publicly traded holding company for athletic and country clubs and related services, has made Andre Agassi the first Chairman of its new Pickleball and Tennis Board. Company Chairman and CEO Bahram Akradi will serve on the board alongside Agassi as Co-Chairman. Source: Life Time ...
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ArticleA bright future for pickleball in Spain?
The head of pickleball for the Catalunya Tennis Club’s Meeting Cup, Lluis Riba, wore a prognosticator’s cap for his recent chat with CMDsport, saying that 2027 will be the year of pickleball in Spain. Like pádel before it, he said, pickleball is in a position to save struggling tennis clubs, ...
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News briefsGamma’s new Chuck pickleball to become official ball for DUPR
DUPR (Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating), a technology platform and the gold standard in pickleball ratings worldwide, announced the expansion of its partnership with Gamma Sports, a family-owned, US-based manufacturer of pickleball and tennis equipment, marking a new chapter in the future of pickleball in 2024. Gamma is set to become ...
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News briefsTennis Industry Association rebrands to serve diverse community
Tennis Industry Association (TIA) has undergone a transformation, rebranding itself as the Racquet Industry Research Group (RIRG). The change signifies more than just a shift in name; it marks a strategic move to broaden its mission and serve the entire racquet sports community with research and data. Recognizing the diverse ...
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News briefsNox under new ownership
GPF Partners has taken what appears to be a controlling stake in Nox, as CMDsport and others have reported. The pádel brand’s founder and CEO, Jesús Ballvé, will be remaining in place. Together with the new shareholder, Nox’s management has come up with a three-part plan: to consolidate its position ...
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News briefsDunlop moving into pickleball, looking forward to 2025 for pádel
Dunlop expects to introduce its first pickleball products in the second half of 2024, according to its CEO for Iberia, Richard Jackson, who has spoken with CMDsport. Although he declined to go into detail, Jackson did say that Dunlop’s “flagship product in tennis, pádel and squash is the ball, and ...
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News briefsPickleball tournament to debut in Las Vegas
The inaugural G.O.A.T. Bowl pickleball tournament, scheduled for Feb. 9 in Las Vegas, has expanded its roster of competitors to 24 teams of four. Registration – for teams or for individual players, whom the organizers will place on a team – is open at the website of one of its ...
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News briefsNew board and chairman at pickleball rating company
Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating (DUPR), the company behind the eponymous rating system, has new ownership and a new board of directors, thanks to $8 million in funding from new investors. Chief among these is David Kass, real estate developer and owner of the Columbus Pickleball Club and now owner and ...
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News briefsPE firm combines three pickleball brands
Three American pickleball brands have fused into one, with the backing of a private equity firm called Thirty-5 Capital. Specifically, Paddletek, ProXR Pickleball and Boundless Pickleball will now operate under the single name United Pickleball Paddles (UPP), a subsidiary of Thirty-5’s United Pickleball Properties. “Combining multiple respected brands under one ...
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News briefsFila deepens commitment to pickleball
Fila is doubling down on pickleball. Since 2019, when the company released its first shoe designated for the sport, it has been pushing to get into the pickleball market. With the release of its new Volley Burst shoe model, the company now claims to be “at the forefront of performance ...
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News briefsA tennis-to-pickleball pipeline?
The pickleball brand Selkirk has signed an endorsement deal with Jack Sock, as we have learned from The Dink and Selkirk itself. At the peak of his career, Sock was the number-eight singles (2017) and number-two (2018) doubles player on the ATP Tour. He will be endorsing the Luxx line ...
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ArticleNew alliance, and new level of business, in pickleball
Major League Pickleball by Margaritaville (MLP) and Carvana Pro Pickleball Association Tour (PPA Tour) have merged “under a unified and definitive professional pickleball holding company.” The deal will preserve the two brands – the PPA Tour being a “traditional, bracket-style tour” and the MLP being a “team-based, coed league.” Combined, ...
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News briefsPickleball becomes official in Spain
Spain’s tennis federation (RFET) has incorporated the sport of pickleball. It has, in consequence, established a committee to handle pickleball-related matters and chosen the leader of pickleball’s Spanish association, Roberto Pérez, to preside over it. RFET’s chairman, Miguel Díaz Román, acknowledging pickleball’s fast growth in Europe, says the RFET seeks ...
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News briefsA Miami conference for all racquet sports
A new racquet-sports conference is promising a three-day show with some 100 companies and 150 speakers on hand. RacquetX is scheduled to take place on March 24-26 – the middle weekend of the Miami Open – at the Miami Beach Convention Center. It is to cover tennis, pop tennis, squash, ...
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News briefsPickleball growing fast in the U.S., report confirms
The Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) and the online platform Pickleheads have released a report on the state and growth of pickleball in the U.S.. By its estimate, the sport has grown 85.7 percent year-on-year and 158.6 percent over three years. In 2022 there were some 8.9 million players ...
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ArticleU.S. growth in racquet sports translating to sales of softgoods
Growth in racquet sports as a practice seems to be spurring growth in related softgoods, or so believe several analysts at Circana, the analytics company that resulted from the merger (in March) of Information Resources (IRI) and The NPD Group (NPD). According to the company’s statistics, the U.S. market for ...
