The new racket sport typti, which combines elements of tennis and badminton and is played on a pickleball court, will hold its first U.S. Open next month in California with $100,000 in prize money.
NFL Hall of Famer Terrell Owens, who is ranked eighth in the fledgling sport, plans to compete, as well as three-time tennis Grand Slam quarterfinalist Ashley Harkleroad, Typti Inc. CEO Steve Bellamy tells Front Office Sports.
Bellamy, who founded Tennis Channel, is building the business around the idea that the sport will live side by side with pickleball, using the same court and at home in the same clubs. The Open, for example, is at the Calabasas Pickleball Club in Los Angeles May 20–24.
The sport’s hope is that tennis players who don’t want the expense and travel of the international pro tennis circuit will flock to it because, unlike pickleball, typti’s swings and slices are similar to tennis’s. It uses a channeled foam ball (so no noise problem) and small mono-shaft tennis-like rackets. It’s closer to mini-tennis than to pickleball.
The rackets are made by a company owned by Typti Inc. and are for sale on the company’s website. According to Bellamy, sales figures have outpaced his original estimate by 1,400%; he wouldn’t say how many rackets have been sold but did say it is well into the thousands. Tennis Warehouse tells FOS the typti racket is its top seller since it first went on sale in January.
Calabasas Pickleball Club will also sell typti-specific memberships, and both parties will take an equity share in the other. “Calabasas is a gold standard for short court racket sport and an incredible facsimile of the local family tennis club we all knew growing up,” said Bellamy.
He also is announcing a $25,000 intercollegiate competition July 10–13 at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego, in conjunction with the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Summer Series event.
Bellamy tells FOS he envisions that in the next two years, there will be dozens of prize-money events, and there are discussions well underway with clubs in Dallas, Toronto, Chicago, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Indianapolis, Florida, and elsewhere. Revenues for the first event will come from sponsors, entry fees, merchandise, and hospitality, he says.
The company behind typti launched in January with more than 80 investors, so funding at this early stage of development should not be an issue.
The Open will also trigger typti’s official world rankings, taking over for the list of top players, which includes Drew Brees, that has resided on the sport’s website since it launched in January.
Bellamy is hoping to have enough competitors to fill out a 128-player draw, the size of a tennis Grand Slam. Like a Slam, the tournament will feature men’s and women’s singles and doubles, as well as mixed doubles.
