There is total consensus amongst the lucky folks who went to this week’s second edition of RacquetX in Miami: it was sensational.
The gigantic festival at Miami Beach Convention Center debuted last year, where it celebrated the emerging sense of synergy and collaboration between racket sports, both traditional (tennis, squash etc) and emerging (padel and pickleball). This year, it’s generally agreed that those sentiments were multiplied — and that the event upscaled in a big way.
This year, RacquetX was the fulcrum of America’s Racquets Week, not only running in parallel with the Miami Open tennis (as it also did last year), but taking place literally next door to the USA’s first ever elite-level padel tournament, Premier Padel P1 Miami, and DUPR’s College Pickleball Regional Tournament. There were other events around the city during the week, including a swanky evening at America’s most famous and glamorous padel club, Reserve (pictured below).
It’s clear that in just two years, RacquetX has become the most important gathering for the entire racket sports industry, not just in North America, but globally.
The numbers
Over the three days (22-24 March), RacquetX welcomed 5,127 attendees (a 150% increase from 2024), 127 exhibiting brands (up from 86 last year), over 128 speakers across three immersive stages and 12 courts for activations featuring more than 280 hours of programming. There were participants from over 25 countries and attendance from more than 50 media outlets.
Highlights
- The inaugural Club Summit, a powerful gathering of more than 200 club owners, general managers, directors and investors, where the future of club development and racket sports integration was discussed in depth.
- SportAI was crowned the winner of the first Start-Up Pitch Competition. Ten finalists selected from 31 applicants pitched live to a panel of investors in a Shark Tank-style showdown.
- There were wholesome vibes on one of the pickleball showcourts with puppy yoga (yes, really). Combining wellness with cute puppy cuddling was one of the festival’s surprise hits.
But, for the second year running, the main buzz was unmistakable. It was padel.
RacquetX reflections from the Brits
“The energy of the racket sport market right now is amazing and something I’ve never seen before — and there’s no doubt that padel is the most talked-about sport in the industry. It certainly was in Miami.” So said George Modler, the young entrepreneur behind The Padel Directory and Golden Point Padel.
“Most of the sports stands I saw were specific to padel. The talks with the biggest crowds were definitely padel. And almost everyone I spoke to was really interested in talking about padel, whether they were from pickleball, tennis, squash or elsewhere.”
The sense of unity between the different strands of the industry is already manifesting itself in the host of multi-racket sport clubs springing up across the globe. Even Novak Djokovic, interviewed whilst playing in the Miami Open, mooted the idea of a Rackets Sports World Championships! That spirit of togetherness was abundant at RacquetX.
“I really got a sense of the days of friction between the racket sports being over,” reflected George. “All the different courts were next to each other and there were tournaments going on between representatives of each sport. If the four or five main racket sports were separated and not working together, it simply wouldn’t have been such an occasion. That’s why it was so good. Everyone was so positive.
“There was no hostility or people playing cards close to their chests. Everyone I spoke to was really keen to collaborate. It wasn’t a façade or for marketing reasons, it was genuine. It was like a breakthrough feeling for the racket sports market in general.”
Those sentiments were shared by two other Brits who made the trip to Miami. Aimee Lawson, founder of the Manchester-based Eutopia agency, was there to promote Sarah Horrocks’ new padel apparel brand PALAIR.
Aimee’s main takeaway came from a panel discussion involving founder Robyn Duda and representatives from FIP, Premier Padel and the Hexagon Cup. She reflected: “One of the comments that most struck a chord with me was, ‘A rising tide lifts all boats.’
“It summed up the collaborative energy that I saw through the whole event. These three big padel organisations had come to an agreement, and although they didn’t know yet what it would lead to, there was a sense of them working towards the same goal of growing the game.
“Although that was obviously a padel-specific partnership, I definitely got a sense of this cross-court cooperation happening between the racket sports too. It really was a wonderful event that left everyone feeling so positive about the future of the industry.”
