Overview/History of Baseline Tennis

In 1989 Jeff Stassen, formed Jeff Stassen Tennis Enterprises Inc.  The impetus for starting the business was control over the content and quality of the tennis operations he was associated with.  Over the course of the next decade, JS Tennis Enterprises Inc. successfully ran tennis programs at the following facilities:  Dearborn Racquet and Health Club, Plum Hollow Country Club, the Bloomfield Open Hunt Club and the Birmingham Racquet Club.

In 1999, Jim Fleming joined forces with Jeff Stassen to co-found Baseline Management.  The main operations of the company at that time consisted of the Birmingham Racquet Club and Orchard Lake Country Club.  Mr. Fleming took on the role of President of the company, while Mr. Stassen maintained the CEO position.  Under Jim's leadership and Jeff's vision, the company grew steadily over the next five years.  Baseline Management added several Park and Recreation programs, formed a Community Tennis Association (the Birmingham Community Tennis Association), administrate the Derby Middle School boys and girls teams, and became 2/3 owners of the Birmingham Racquet Club.

In 2003, Baseline Tennis was created as a tennis management and services company.  All of the Baseline Management contractual arrangements are now under the Baseline Tennis umbrella.  Further growth came in 2004, when Baseline added the Birmingham Athletic Club's tennis program to its core business.  The BAC is considered one of the top racquet tennis clubs in the state of Michigan.

The fall of 2004 brought a key staff addition to Baseline Tennis - Mike Graff.  Mr. Graff spent 17 years at the Sports Club of West Bloomfield and is widely considered one of the most complete tennis professionals in the Midwest.  He joined the core management circle along side with Fleming and Stassen.  With long time Baseline Tennis professional Keith Cullen on board, Baseline Tennis has formed one of the strongest teaching programs in the State of Michigan.  Mr. Cullen spent over twenty years at the helm of the Beverly Hills Racquet Club and is one of the purest tennis teachers of the fundamentals and quality in the game today.  He is also regarded as a top high school coach winning numerous state championships.

Baseline continued its growth in June of 2006 when they landed a turn key management agreement with the Farmington Tennis Club, a 10 court indoor facility with a rich history.  Mike Graff was appointed the general manager and the club is rapidly returning to one of the top clubs in SEMTA. Chris Dobson joined the management team in 2006 as Director of Personnel and he is also overseeing the day to day management of the Birmingham Racquet Club. Chris brings club ownership experience as well as deep exposure in all facets of the tennis business. Another key hire for Baseline in 2006 was Mark Reznich, as he has over 30 years of high level teaching experience and international exposure; he actually captained Malta's Davis Cup team.  Baseline added the Bloomfield Open Hunt Indoor Tennis Club January of 2007 and in September of 2007, Baseline added Dearborn Racquet and Health Club and Travis Pointe Country Club to their business portfolio. This makes Baseline the largest provider of indoor tennis in the state of Michigan with 30 indoor courts under their management umbrella. The company has grown at an incredibly fast rate over the past couple years, but our commitment remains the same: great service and programming provided by some of the best staff in the industry.

Baseline Tennis has a very wide breadth of involvement in the game of tennis including: commercial facility and country club management, staff training and development, USTA district and sectional committees, coaching of high school teams, grass roots programming, sanctioned amateur and professional tournaments, elite player development, as well as building a relationship with Ferris State University's Professional Tennis Management program by hiring top recruits.

Baseline Tennis has the vision, tennis business acumen, and resources to continue its growth in the tennis industry.

<-Back