There could be some pain.
That’s the unfortunate forecast for avid recreational tennis players. As with just about every commercial industry, the sport’s equipment will be significantly impacted by the second Trump administration’s tariff plan. With racquet, shoes, balls and strings virtually all made overseas, the costs to buy new gear and play the game are almost certain to rise.
Even before the latest tariff hike announced on April 2 and amended on April 9, a few brands had already taken steps to address higher production costs facing the industry. Both Head and Wilson had raised the prices on their high-performance racquets by $10, so the $269 price tag for the new Head Gravity Tour that debuted in January, for example, is up to $279. But now that tariffs on imports from China—where all major brands other than Yonex make their racquets—currently stand at 125%, that may just be the first pass.
“At the end of the day, my gut feeling is it will have a very negative impact,” says Jeff Bardsley, Head’s vice president of racquet sports. “We’re doing as much as we can to push it off, but when it starts to impact the bottom line, the next question then becomes what are you going to do to reduce that impact.”
