Resurrecting the Game: Bounce Sports and the Sustainability of Tennis

CES 2026 has introduced a wave of high-tech gear for the court, but Bounce Sports is making noise by focusing on what most players throw away: the ball. This Belgian startup is making its debut in Las Vegas with a clear mission to stop the "wasteful cycle" of tennis by extending the life of balls that usually end up in a landfill after just one or two sessions.

"We noticed that there has long been a shortage in a service in sports that's dedicated for amateur players," a staff member shared at their booth. By focusing on the "rechargeable" nature of tennis equipment, they are positioning themselves as a leader in the growing "Greentech" sports sector.

The Air Master: A Second Life for Your Gear

The star of the show for Bounce is the Air Master, an "electrical intelligent pump" designed to repressurize tennis balls. Most balls lose their bounce because the internal gas escapes through the rubber shell; the Air Master reverses this process by physically pulling air back into the ball.

• Simplicity by Design: Unlike industrial tools, the Air Master is built for "amateur and limited players." It is lightweight, portable, and designed to fit easily into a standard tennis bag.
• The "Click" Factor: The device features a patented "click" indicator that lets the user know when the correct pressure has been reached, removing the guesswork from ball maintenance.
• Beyond the Tube: While their personal tubes are their "baby," Bounce is also showcasing the Bounce Pro, a larger system designed for clubs and academies that can repressurize up to 500 balls at once.

Positively Critical: The Fight Against "AI Inflation"

One of the most refreshing aspects of the Bounce Sports presentation is their refusal to follow the "AI for everything" trend that has dominated the Venetian Expo.

"At CES, you see everything more expensive with the type of agenda... they put AI on everything," the staff noted. "We want to bring sporty things back to the sport itself."

However, this focus on physical hardware over software presents its own set of challenges:

• The Physics of the Ball: While repressurizing keeps the "bounce" alive, it cannot fix the wear and tear of the felt. Eventually, a ball will become "dead" because the felt is gone, even if the pressure is perfect.
• Changing Habits: The success of Bounce depends on players remembering to put their balls back into the pressurized environment immediately after play. If a ball sits in a hot car for three days, the damage may already be irreversible.
• Economic Threshold: At a retail price of around $90 USD, the Air Master is an investment. For a casual player who only hits once a month, it may take over a year of "saved" balls to break even on the device.

Vision for 2027: Portability and Lowering Barriers

As the company looks toward next year, they are focused on further reducing complexity. The goal for CES 2027 is to make their devices even more "portable and more convenient" while lowering the cost for the average consumer.

The staff was clear that they aren't interested in adding sensors or tracking data just for the sake of it. "We want to make this gear applicable to every kind of player," they explained. "We don't want to make it too complicated."

Bounce Sports is a reminder that innovation doesn't always have to be about digital data; sometimes, the most revolutionary thing you can do is fix a 150-year-old piece of equipment so it doesn't have to be thrown away. If they can successfully scale their "Bounce Pro" systems for academies, they could fundamentally change the economics of the sport for the next generation of players.