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Throughout the six gamers on the tennis court docket at midday on a Friday in Beverly Hills, I clock two Cartier watches and one Rolex. There’s tennis skirts paired with chunky cable-knit sweaters and white sneakers and tote baggage with collegiate embroidery. From behind sun shades and baseball caps, members seem like of their mid-twenties to early thirties. However irrespective of how a lot the scene might resemble a legacy nation membership at first look, this meetup exists nearly in opposition to town’s handful of pricey golf equipment with yearslong wait-lists and prolonged membership necessities.
Kacper Owsian greets somebody to his Tennis Clinic in Beverly Hills.
(Emil Ravelo / For The Occasions)
That is Sundown Tennis Membership, a membership-based tennis membership that operates on a sequence of courts in upscale neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Based in early 2023 by Anna and Kacper Owsian, the group thinks of itself as a “floating tennis club,” mentioned Anna, solely with out the obstacles to entry that maintain out many millennials and zoomers.
As soon as a pair, now enterprise companions, Anna and Kacper immigrated to Los Angeles from Poland in late 2022. The pair met over a decade in the past taking part in tennis within the metropolis of Poznań, the place Kacper, a former tennis professional, adopted in his household’s footsteps teaching at a tennis membership and Anna, who performs for enjoyable, labored within the style and wellness industries. When the 2 moved to Los Angeles, they, like many latest transplants, struggled to search out group. They used their mutual love of tennis as a strategy to make associates, setting a once-a-week date to play, adopted by nights out for dinner and drinks. From there, the concept to begin the membership as a enterprise was born.
Residing in prosperous Brentwood on the time, they have been impressed by the aesthetics of nation membership life, even when they have been unable to truly take part. Anna wished to lend her expertise in style to branding a tennis membership that was “more than just a place to play, but the sport we love, reimagined for the new generation.” Kacper might train. The primary official Sundown Tennis Membership began as soon as per week in Beverly Hills, attended by a small group of associates of associates.
Sundown Tennis Membership sells one-off clinics, or small group classes separated by degree. Kacper nonetheless teaches, however in addition they make use of a handful of coaches. Regardless of its lack of a single brick-and-mortar location, the membership runs on a membership mannequin. Anybody who can afford to speculate a couple of hundred {dollars} of their sport is welcome to hitch immediately through the model’s web site. Membership is tiered, primarily based on how usually one needs to take part in clinics. 4 newbie clinics a month runs $200, whereas attending 12 ranges from $480-540 relying on the member’s expertise degree. Add-on personal classes can be found.
The membership performs throughout six areas — together with Beverly Hills, Hancock Park, and Brentwood — all of that are on personal properties, accessed by means of the founders’ private relationships.
Sundown Tennis Membership has arrived in L.A. at a second the place racket sports activities are surging in recognition. In keeping with a 2024 examine by RacquetX, a convention for racket sport professionals, the class — which incorporates tennis, pickleball, squash, badminton and desk tennis — has grown 30% since 2021. Tennis gamers within the U.S. jumped from 1.9 million gamers to 25.7 million gamers in 2024, its fifth consecutive yr of development in response to the US Tennis Affiliation. The founders say that to date in 2025, Sundown Tennis Membership has hosted 1,000 gamers throughout its 25 weekly clinics and rotating occasions month-to-month.
Anna and Kacper Owsian host a Tennis Clinic in Beverly Hills.
(Emil Ravelo / For The Occasions)
Its rising membership might have as a lot to do with the game of tennis because it does the style related to it. Amanda Greeley, proprietor of racket sports activities style model Spence, argues tennis’ elevated recognition is a results of the photogenic nature, but in addition society’s need for connection.
“Tennis looks good on Instagram, but I also believe it taps into something deeper: Tennis is social. In a world where so much fitness has become solitary — spin bikes, boot camps, apps — tennis offers real, in-person connection. It’s active and communal.”
Even when anybody can be part of Sundown Tennis Golf equipment, that doesn’t imply their occasions are fully devoid of the old-money swagger usually noticed on L.A. tennis courts. The group operates “in the in between public courts and country clubs … something that’s approachable for people but at the same time a little bit more exclusive and more unique,” mentioned Anna.
Anna Owsian at her Tennis Clinic
(Emil Ravelo / For The Times)
Outside of access to private courts, the feeling of exclusivity comes from the Sunset Tennis Club’s branding and membership, which tends to share an affinity for crisp tennis whites and beautiful watches. Sunset Tennis Club’s Instagram feed resembles that of a fashion brand. Influencers like Song of Style’s Aimee Song and Kardashian makeup artist Mary Phillips are known to frequent clinics. Beyond tennis lessons, membership includes access to social events that range from watch parties at boutique hotels to invites to private boxes at tennis tournaments. Recently, the club partnered with the apparel company FILA to gift members a tennis outfit and an invite to their private box suite at the high-profile BNP Paribas Open in the La Quinta desert, providing members with otherwise everyday lives a taste of the L.A. influencer life. Chelsea Ma, a 28-year-old producer who discovered Sunset Tennis Club through an Instagram ad, attends a clinic with the group once a week. She says she’s also made close friends through the club, some of whom she’s traveled with.
“I was already playing tennis once or twice a week, but I knew I wanted to get better,” Ma said. “It was difficult to find friends who wanted to play tennis on a regular basis [before joining] … The club is one of a kind. It taps into a lifestyle their members already live by but through the foundation of tennis.”
Much like your typical country club, there is a dress code at Sunset Tennis Club clinics: Tennis whites or all-black attire is required. At most courts, the group’s logo is displayed on nets and can be seen in the background of members’ carefully posed Instagram photos on the court. On the Friday that I visited in Beverly Hills, house music by Rufus du Sol played softly from a speaker as we practiced drills. Even with all those small details, the experience wasn’t exactly the Ritz. Members parked on the street, bathroom access varied court by court and there was no spot to grab a cobb salad afterwards. But aesthetically and tonally, whiffs of affluence are in reach for those who want a taste.
