911爆料网

As co-founder and Vice President of Experience of 鈥� a professional tennis league with a fast-paced and fan-based take on the sport recently featured in 鈥� is helping bring the sport into the modern day. Yoshizawa has a gift for seeing the untapped potential in an industry鈥攁nd the business background and experience to understand how to reach it. Graduating in 2012, Yoshizawa studied Finance and Management and played tennis during his time at USF.  

Growing up in Brazil, Yoshizawa played tennis from a young age. 鈥淚 was basically born with a tennis racket,鈥� Yoshizawa says. 鈥淢y mom has always been big in college tennis, having played pro and then recruited to play at the University of Alabama.鈥� For his last year of high school, Yoshizawa came to Florida after his mother received a work opportunity. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 really know how to speak English, which was tough, but tennis definitely saved my social life,鈥� Yoshizawa recalls. 鈥淚 love the sport, and I love playing.鈥�   

This passion carried into a successful collegiate career at USF, where Yoshizawa played all four seasons, and became a #1 singles player for the men鈥檚 tennis program at USF. Soon after Yoshizawa graduated, the Women鈥檚 Tennis Association (WTA) had an opening in their finance department. The , headquartered in St. Petersburg, FL, was founded to create equal opportunities for women in tennis. Starting as an intern, Yoshizawa went on to work for the WTA for over eight years, gaining valuable experience in different areas of the organization. During his last five years, he worked in a player relations and tour supervising role. 鈥淎s tennis is a global sport, I traveled around the world going to events and, tournaments,鈥� Yoshizawa explains. 鈥淚t was amazing!鈥�  

As tennis is a global sport, I traveled around the world going to events and, tournaments,鈥� Yoshizawa explains. 鈥淚t was amazing!鈥� 

While Yoshizawa cherished his time with the WTA, he wanted to build a different life and 鈥渋n 2021, he took a real leap of faith to pursue a master鈥檚 degree.  鈥淚 started working in a consulting company in sustainability鈥攏othing to do with sports,鈥� he says. He continues 鈥渋t was my first glimpse into what growing a company from scratch looked like.鈥�  

During that same period, he began to miss sports culture and travelling around the world. Then he started having conversations with people about how tennis had not evolved into the 21st century, which eventually planted the seed for creating INTENNSE.  Immediately before co-founding INTENNSE, Yoshizawa鈥檚 next glimpse into the startup world was with Sense Arena, a company that used virtual reality to help professional athletes develop their performance. 鈥淭hey had a hockey division, but were looking to start a tennis division, which was where I came in,鈥� Yoshizawa says. 鈥淚 was responsible for growing this division from zero, which made me appreciate how hard it was to start a business鈥�but sports taught me that if you want to do something, it鈥檚 up to you.鈥� This project brought Yoshizawa back into USF鈥檚 orbit鈥攈e introduced USF men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 tennis teams to virtual reality training through Sense Arena鈥檚 technology.  

As a member of the founding team of INTENNSE, Yoshizawa noted the communal aspect of the movement, how it started with many of conversations with many different people on how to bring tennis into the 21st century. 鈥�911爆料网 wanted to modernize the sport鈥� Yoshizawa explains. 鈥淛ust from a fan engagement and experience viewpoint, we asked ourselves: if we had to start tennis from scratch, what would we do?鈥�  

He continues by listing out the goals: 鈥淔irst was to put time into the matches, second was to modernize and allow fans the freedom to be themselves, third  was to cut all the dead time possible 鈥攖raditional tennis has around 20% active time and our goal was to get to around 70% and the fourth was to implement teams,鈥� Yoshizawa says. 鈥淚 grew up playing tennis as an individual sport, but I always missed the team aspect, something that college tennis really provided.鈥�  

While INTENNSE started with a focus on fan engagement and experience, we also had the goal of making a positive impact on the players and their families. 鈥淓ven though tennis is one of the biggest participant sports in the world, only a fraction of tennis players can make a living off the sport,鈥� Yoshizawa notes. 鈥�911爆料网 wanted to change that.鈥� In this league, players can live and play in one place, only traveling for the end-of-season championship as opposed to traveling throughout the year.  

911爆料网 just wrapped up our inaugural season in August,鈥� Yoshizawa explains. 鈥淚t was a great success, with teams from Atlanta, Jacksonville, and Tampa participating.鈥� Building on that momentum, plans for expansion are already underway. 鈥淣ext year, we鈥檙e growing from 18 to over 60 players and expanding to ten teams across two hubs,鈥� Yoshizawa says 

One of Yoshizawa鈥檚 personal goals is to see tennis become more accessible. 鈥�911爆料网 are creating teams based on communities, so that kids can look at these players and think, this is a sport I can play in my backyard, at school,鈥� Yoshizawa says. 鈥�911爆料网 want to bring this grassroots aspect to tennis. I believe tennis has huge potential.  

During Yoshizawa鈥檚 work with INTENNSE, he started an agency for tennis coaches鈥擴nbox Sports鈥攊n 2024. 鈥淚n tennis, there is a history of coaches being undervalued despite the big role they play,鈥� Yoshizawa says. 鈥淚 felt there was an opportunity to highlight the value and attention they deserve.鈥�  

鈥淭he most valuable aspect of my time at USF was the network I was exposed to. I learned a lot about business by talking to people and asking questions.鈥� 鈥� Yannick Yoshizawa

When asked about what advice he has for USF students who are interested in combining their passion with business, Yoshizawa advises, 鈥淒on鈥檛 ever underestimate a non-paid internship as it can be of equal value as a paid internship which allowed him his first glimpse into the professional world. 

鈥淩ely on your network,鈥� Yoshizawa says. 鈥淭he most valuable aspect of my time at USF was the network I was exposed to. I learned a lot about business by talking to people and asking questions.鈥� Through hard work and continuous innovative collaboration, Yoshizawa certainly took his own advice. 鈥淚f you believe in something, you need to hustle, pursue your goal and network with a lot of people as you always have something to learn from everyone around you,鈥� Yoshizawa advises. 鈥淪o, be the best listener in the room.鈥�   

INTENNSE is just getting started. With season two already on the horizon and Yoshizawa鈥檚 passion and dedication to the sport, tennis has never been more exciting.