How Gwen Tan built Tennis 360 into a UAE community hub: 'I started playing at 41'

Dubai: When Gwen Tan first arrived in the UAE in 2005, tennis wasn’t even on her radar. Sixteen years later, she’s built Tennis 360 into one of Dubai’s most recognisable racquet sports communities not through a master plan, but what she calls “a pure accident.”

“I wasn’t a tennis player, not even close,” she says. “I started playing only at 41.” What started as a personal challenge quickly became something more consuming.

Lessons turned into long hours on court sometimes up to 15 hours a week playing with anyone willing to rally, from children to retirees. “I was terrible when I started,” she admits, “but I just kept going.”

The idea of launching an academy wasn’t part of Tan’s career blueprint. With a background in luxury fashion retail in Singapore, sport let alone tennis wasn’t where she imagined her future.

But when an opportunity arose to help a group of coaches secure a location and manage logistics, she stepped in. “I was just supposed to help out administratively,” she explains. “But it quickly became clear they needed more than that.”

What she also saw, from a client’s perspective, was a gap.

“The tennis scene was still quite raw,” she says. “There wasn’t enough structure or consistency in how things were delivered. And as a mother, that mattered to me.”

That realisation became the foundation of Tennis 360: structured programmes, professional delivery, and most importantly a sense of community.

For Tan, the biggest gap wasn’t technical training. It was social.

“When I was learning, I had no one to play with,” she says. “I could take lessons, but as a beginner, nobody wanted to hit with me.”

That experience shaped her vision: a space where players of all levels could find each other, improve together, and feel like they belonged.

Sixteen years on, that vision has translated into a packed calendar of leagues, social events and training programmes, all built on consistency. “People come back because they know what to expect,” she says. “It’s organised, it’s welcoming, and it works."

Among her proudest achievements is the UAETF Inter-Club Ladies Doubles League, now officially recognised and sanctioned by the UAE Tennis Federation, the governing body for the sport in the country.

What began as a small, casual league of 24 women has grown into a structured, multi-club competition with more than 150 active players, complete with rankings, regulations and weekly fixtures.

“It started modestly,” Tan says. “But if you create something, it has to be clear, sustainable and consistent.” Today, the league operates with formal rules, scheduling systems and even ranking points, aligning it with national standards. But its real success lies off the court.

“At the end of every match, everyone sits down together, coffee, snacks, the whole team,” she says. “No matter what happened during the game, you’re expected to talk it through.”

At the end of each series, the league also leans into celebration with lighthearted but meaningful awards like best dressed, most improved team and best sportsmanship, giving players recognition beyond just match results and reinforcing the sense of community Tan set out to build.

It’s a small but intentional ritual that reflects a bigger philosophy: sport as a space for connection, not just competition. “People have formed real friendships here,” she adds. “They travel together, their families know each other. That’s when you know it’s more than just tennis.”

The journey, Tan is quick to point out, hasn’t been smooth. “Tough times don’t last forever, but tough people do,” she says, matter-of-factly.

From operational challenges to moments of uncertainty, her approach has remained simple: focus on what’s in front of you. “Don’t get overwhelmed. Solve what you can, get good advice, and just keep showing up.”

That sense of grounding became even more important during the recent periods of uncertainty. “When conflict happens, you realise we’re all in this together,” Tan says. “There’s no running away.”

In those moments, she believes sport has played a quiet but powerful role. “There’s no agenda when you step onto the court,” she says. “No politics, no economics just being active, being healthy, and being together.”

It’s that simplicity that helped Tennis 360 become, for many, a kind of anchor. “We just want to provide a space where people feel at home,” she adds.

For Tan, one of the biggest misconceptions about entrepreneurship is the idea that passion alone is enough. “Passion isn’t enough,” she says bluntly. “When things get hard, passion fades.”

What matters more, she argues, is discipline, being structured, resourceful, and consistent. “I wasn’t qualified when I started,” she admits. “But I got good at what I was doing.”

That mindset, combined with what she calls the UAE’s culture of opportunity, made all the difference. “If you’re willing to work hard and stay committed, this is a place where things can happen.”

At its core, Tennis 360 isn’t just about producing better tennis players, it’s about shaping better athletes.

For children especially, Tan emphasises fundamental movement skills: balance, coordination, agility and spatial awareness. The idea is that, even if they choose to leave tennis, they leave stronger.

“Our philosophy is: first the athlete, then the player,” she says. “We’re shaping you for life, not just for the podium.”

Looking back, Tan credits consistency above all else. “When the opportunity came, I could have walked away,” she says. “But I stayed, I worked, and I kept going.”

It’s a mindset that continues to define both her and the community she’s built, one rally, one session, one showing-up moment at a time. And for someone who started at 41, with no plan and no background in sport, that might just be the most powerful message of all.