In celebration of the US Open, for the third year running we brought back the only party that matters: Racquet House at Rockefeller Center®, featuring a pop-up tennis court on Center Plaza from August 22nd through August 27th. New Yorkers and visitors participated in a variety of programming daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., which including professional players rallying with kids from local community programs talent sessions featuring fan-favorite tennis stars, content creation opportunities, and exclusive private events. Activations on Center Plaza also included a FILA claw machine where visitors could win exciting prizes, and specialty drinks from the Heineken Beer Garden and Shake Shack Lemonade Stand. Spectators saw some of their favorite tennis players hitting the court.
The official opening to Racquet House at Rockefeller Center welcomed 500+ VIPs, players, talent, influencers, sponsors, press and friends of the brand to kick-off Racquet House on Thursday, August 22nd at Radio Park, the urban garden and event space above Radio City Music Hall. Hosted bars included Shake Shack’s signature ShackBurgers, Veggie Shacks & Crinkle Cut Fries, styled photo stops, Dobel Tequila’s signature Ace Paloma serve and music from DJ RadioRahill who entertained guests with a selection of Italian-sportif themed tunes.
Professional players such as Caroline Garcia, Caroline Dolehide, Barbora Kreijikova, Shelby Bryan, Harriet Dart, Carol Zhao, Laura Siegemund, Sabrina Santamaria, Evan King, Tristan Boyer, Brandon Nakashima, broadcasters Jan Michael Gambill, Rennae Stubbs and Carolyn Manno, SELF editor Rachel Wilkerson Miller, musician Devonté Hynes aka Blood Orange, stylist and editorial visionary Katharina Korbjuhn of Paradigm Trilogy and hospitality luminaries Patti and Hans Rockenwagener mingled with Racquet’s world of contributors and collaborators, as well as the finest professional tennis players around representing co-hosts Rockefeller Center®, FILA, CÎROC Limonata, Heineken USA, Shake Shack, Maestro Dobel Tequila, Maison Perrier, Essentia and NOLET’S Silver Gin.
Two powerful panels were held right on the iconic Racquet House Court as well as a joyous Day of Play in partnership with our friends at Black Girls Tennis Club.
Friday’s panel discussion featured tennis talent and notable speakers on the topic of the Future of Racquet Sport featuring voices and athletes from the world’s of padel and pickleball. As the racquet sports category explodes, Racquet wanted to embrace the upstarts and take lessons from the legacy sports to show how innovation, fan engagement and recreational play is leading the surge onto the court. The panel included feature leaders Santiago Gomez founder Padel Haus, Drummond Munro, co-founder of Fairgrounds, Max Kogler is the CEO of PingPod and Babora Krejcikova, the recent winner of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships to talk about opportunities across categories and the dynamic nature of the space.
Saturday’s panel discussion covered the topic of the Future of Women’s Tennis featuring tennis athletes and visionary leaders from emerging markets in Asia and the Middle East. Last year’s panel hosted CEOs, professional players, representatives from governing bodies and community activists and featured a conversation about how women in the space balanced play/leadership with their lives. This year Racquet expanded the conversation to how women’s tennis is growing internationally, with a focus on new markets, investment in local talent and audience development and how tennis is offering women around the world more opportunity than ever before. Panelists included Arij Mutabagani president and Board Chair of STF, Bob Moran, America’s representative on the WTA Tournament Council and Board Member of the WTA Foundation, Ginny Ehrlich CEO of the USTA Foundation and Charles Hseiung, Co-Tournament Director of the China Open in Beijing from 2004 to 2017. Charles is an elected member of the WTA Tournament Council. WTA Player and WTA player Shelby Rogers.
The Racquet House residence concluded on Sunday with a play day for 50 “girls” with on court coaching and a joy hour in the roof garden of Radio Park. Special appearance by recent Wimbledon doubles winner, and Top 50 ranked WTA player Taylor Townsend was a particularly special conclusion to Racquet House 2024. The Racquet team thanks everyone so much—from our incredible partners as well as each and every attendee—for making this year’s event the best Racquet House yet.
