This March, the PTPA team partook in the first annual RacquetX festival in Miami, helping lead two panel discussions around athlete well-being and off-court opportunities.
PTPA Executive Vice President of Player Engagement Wajid Mir, and PTPA ambassador and former ATP standout Nico Lapentti, helped kick off day two of the event with the panel “Good Governance and the Athlete’s Integration.” Wajid and Nico discussed the importance of policy that protects and maximizes players’ well-being, drawing upon their personal experiences and their work with the PTPA to share insight on safeguarding and supporting athletes.
In particular, Wajid and Nico shed light on the PTPA’s efforts “to help life on tour and reduce the stress” that players face, providing innovative services and commercial opportunities that are solutions to players’ challenges and support their unique needs.
PTPA Deputy Executive Director Romain Rosenberg took the stage in the final day of the event, joining a panel on digital innovations and their impact on the industry. Romain discussed how new innovations can increase off-court financial upside, visibility, and brand power for players, and the importance of empowering players to partake in the opportunities surrounding these new innovations. The panel was also joined by Jean Matias, Founder and CEO of Fungiball, a leading developer in the next-generation fantasy tennis gaming sphere. Fungiball recently partnered with the PTPA to showcase the names, images, and likenesses of over 250 professional men’s and women’s players in its upcoming officially-licensed game.
The RacquetX event was designed to bring together the racquet sports industry. Professional players, executives, agents, corporate representatives, and other industry leaders gathered to share their experiences and discuss what’s next for some of the world’s most popular and fastest-growing sports, including tennis, pickleball, table tennis, padel and more.