TIA Tennis Forum to Bring Industry Leaders, Influencers to NYC Aug. 26

The 12th Annual TIA Tennis Forumwill be held on Monday, Aug. 26, on the Ballroom Level of the Grand Hyatt New York City from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.

The Tennis Forum will present the latest news about the state of the tennis industry, including participation, marketplace trends, grassroots initiatives, updates from the Tennis Industry Association, International Tennis Federation and U.S. Tennis Association leadership, and more. Joining this year’s event will be Andrew LaFiosca of Nielsen Sports, who will share player and consumer insights; Tom Cove, executive director of the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, with insights on the sports and fitness trends; USTA President and Chairman of the Board Patrick Galbraith; ITF executive Paul Lifton; and USTA Chief Executive of Community Tennis Craig Morris.

A new feature at this year’s Forum will be the “Discovery Challenge,” a competition to showcase innovation and solutions around a problem facing the tennis industry—in this case the “retention of tennis players.” The Challenge will be moderated by Carlos Salum, president of Salum International Resources. He will be joined by Lena Belogolova, a behavioral science expert and former Facebook manager. The Discovery Challenge is designed to be an interactive and solutions-producing session. In the weeks leading up to the Forum, the TIA worked with the team at Idea Connection (ideaconnection.com) and received hundreds of suggestions on how to grow the sport. A panel of experts will choose a winner at the Forum.

Also during the TIA Tennis Forum will be a short ceremony to honor the 2019 inductees into the Tennis Industry Hall of Fame: legendary champion Arthur Ashe and apparel innovators Cheryl Singer and Brad Varat, who founded the Tail apparel company in 1974. Tennis champion Stan Smith will honor Ashe at the induction ceremony, where he and TIA executives will present a plaque to Ashe’s wife, Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe. Singer and Varat will be introduced by Brad Singer, Cheryl’s son and founder of apparel company Lucky in Love.

While the TIA Tennis Forum is free to attend for those in the industry, space is limited, so registration is required. Visit TennisIndustry.org or click here for registration and more information.

About the TIA: The Tennis Industry Association, the not-for-profit trade association for tennis, is THE unifying force in the tennis industry whose mission is to promote the growth and economic vitality of the business of tennis by working closely with its industry partners and in support of the USTA in their development of initiatives to increase tennis participation. Core TIA activities include producing more than 70 U.S. and global research reports annually on participation and consumer/trade research, managing the largest relational database, along with hosting annual TIA Tennis Forum, Leadership meetings and the TOM Conference at major tournaments and events. Visit TennisIndustry.org or call 866-686-3036.