Big-money renovations, luxury sponsorships, legal showdowns, and cultural shifts. The top tennis stories you might have missed as Roland-Garros gets underway.
Tennis wants its spectators to provide atmosphere, but abuse of players persists at tournaments: Not all tennis atmospheres are created equal, and partisan support can quickly devolve into unwarranted abuse, especially when the spectators delivering it are not in support of a particular player but of whatever outcome makes them money on sports betting. Full Story: The Athletic
Pro tennis tours file motion to dismiss antitrust lawsuit from Djokovic’s players’ association: The professional tennis tours and two other defendants jointly filed a motion in federal court in New York to dismiss the class-action antitrust lawsuit brought by the Professional Tennis Players’ Association, a group co-founded by Novak Djokovic. The argument is that PTPA lacks associational standing and antitrust standing. Full Story: AP
Tennis Was Once Ruled by Teenagers. Now, Not So Much: Chris Evert, Steffi Graf, Bjorn Borg and Boris Becker grabbed the sport young. Today, it’s Joāo Fonseca and Mirra Andreeva. Full Story: The New York Times
U.S. Open tennis gets $800 million renovation of Arthur Ashe stadium, Billie Jean King Tennis Center: Over the next three years, Ashe, as it is commonly known, will undergo a massive, $800 million facelift that every fan, player and United States Tennis Association (USTA) partner should feel in a big way. It’s the latest move in an ongoing tennis arms race between the Australian, French and U.S. Opens and Wimbledon. Full Story: The Athletic
Italian Open organizer eyes tournament as 5th tennis Grand Slam: Italian Tennis Federation president Angelo Binaghi has the grandiose aim to make the Italian Open a fifth Grand Slam tournament alongside the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open, upending a century of tennis history. “In what other part of society is there a monopoly that lasts for more than 100 years?” Binaghi asked. Full Story: ESPN
How Rolex Paved the Way for Luxury’s Love Affair With Tennis: The top matches in the world are played against a backdrop of green Rolex signage, with gilded clocks displaying the time—and the Rolex brand—from the corner of the court. And though Roger Federer, likely its best-known ambassador (or “testimonee” in Rolex parlance), retired from the pros a few years ago, the watchmaker’s roster today includes many of the sport’s highest-ranked players. Full Story: Front Office Sports
A Machine to Give Tennis Balls a Second Life: RecycleBalls has created an innovative new machine that turns tennis balls into crumb rubber. The question is, can it scale? Full Story: Inc.
Pegula talks tennis and travel: World number three, Jessica Pegula, discusses the challenges of life on the road as a professional tennis player. Full Story: NBC Washington
Deion Sanders unveils ‘new hobby’ of playing tennis: Deion Sanders has conquered the football gridiron and the baseball diamond. But now, the Super Bowl and World Series participant—the only male athlete to ever play for a championship in both sports—is ready to rule the tennis court. Full Story: Tennis
Wisconsin School Board Reinstates Billie Jean King Book: “I Am Billie Jean King,” a picture book biography by Brad Meltzer, was previously removed from three school libraries and placed in a school counselor’s office to be checked out only with parental permission. Full Story: Wisconsin 10
ManningCast for Tennis? The MacZone will be a first-of-its-kind show featuring two of the most recognizable names in tennis as they share their commentary, analysis, and other colorful insights of the major moments happening at Roland-Garros, as they bounce around all the live afternoon matches,“ TNT said in a release. Full Story: NJ.com
This Week in Professional Tennis
| Date | Tournament | Tour/Level | Location |
| 5/25-6/8 | Roland-Garros | Grand Slam | Paris |
The Recycleballs story is interesting but it is somewhat greenwashing because it is not truly a 360 degree recycle – ie from tennis ball back to tennis ball. They are simply breaking down the various materials, but they are ending up in environmentally unfriendly new end products that contain other toxins. It’s pretty ironic. There is a true recycled renewable tennis ball 🎾 invented in Europe called Renewaball – they invented a machine that separates the materials by slicing the felt off of the rubber ball- no other machine in the world does this. The materials once separated are then reused to make a new tennis ball. Approved already by ITF and IPF for Padel these are the real deal. Just thought you should know – it’s a very interesting and real recycled tennis ball.