Wallisellen: Joel Bopp realized his dream with the Tennis Factory

With the Tennis Factory in Wallisellen ZH, 23-year-old Joel Bopp has made his dream come true. This weekend he and his team celebrated the two-year anniversary of his tennis shop. Bopp says: “This shop is my everything, my pride and joy.”

It all started in 2017, when I was 16 years old. “I bought a tennis stringing machine because the strings kept breaking when I was playing. I was fed up with that and started stringing rackets in my bedroom.”

In 2018, Bopp founded the Tennis Factory and expanded into the basement of his parents’ house. There he set up a small shop because he was now not only stringing rackets, but also selling them. In 2022, at the age of 21, he realized his dream of owning his own tennis shop.

When he opened his shop, Bopp was the youngest tennis shop owner in Switzerland. It takes money to set up a shop like this: “All my spare parts are in the Tennis Factory. But I was also lucky and was able to convince investors with my concept,” says the Walliseller.

Nevertheless, as a young entrepreneur, he always had to fight prejudices. “The biggest difficulty for me was to appear credible at such a young age.” When I had to negotiate contracts, my counterparts doubted me. They gave me the feeling: ‘He’s much too young and not credible anyway,'” says Bopp. Over the years, he was able to earn the necessary respect with his hard work and know-how. “As a young entrepreneur, you simply have to give it twice as much gas,” he sums up.

When asked what advice he would give to other young people who want to start a business for a reason, Bopp says: “You shouldn’t force anything, just have fun with it.” If you force yourself to be successful, you’ll give up before you succeed.”

Despite the success that Bopp has now had with his Tennis Factory, there were also decisions to be made that were not easy. “Our lease for the Tennis Factory runs for six years. I had to decide at the age of 21 whether I wanted to take this step.” He couldn’t just stop if he didn’t like it anymore. “I’ve never had to make such a reasoned decision before in my life.”

In times when more and more orders are being placed online, it takes more than just a nice store to acquire customers – and to keep them. “Customers appreciate our personal approach in the store. “Anyone who comes to us feels at home,” explains Bopp. The experience on site in the Tennis Factory could not be reproduced online. “We have a relaxed atmosphere, everyone is welcome.”

In addition to tennis equipment, the Tennis Factory also sells sportswear and accessories for padel, squash and badminton.