Pickleball England, the national governing body for pickleball in England, has confirmed Proflex, the UK-manufactured surface brand from Surftech Surfaces UK, as its Official Court Surface and Flooring Partner under a new three-year agreement. The partnership’s first major delivery is a 62-court build at the NEC, Birmingham, which will host the English Open, the largest indoor pickleball tournament in the world, running August 11-16, 2026.
For sports centers, leisure operators and local authorities planning pickleball provision, the agreement establishes Proflex surfacing as the specification used at the sport’s national showcase event, manufactured to the same ISO 9001:2015 standard applied to Proflex’s ATP 500 tennis tournament surfaces, and developed using the SAPCA pickleball and tennis surface specifications Proflex itself authored.
Facility owners and specifiers will be able to draw on the NEC project as a reference installation when planning new or upgraded pickleball courts, with Proflex committing to make NEC specification and performance data available through Pickleball England’s facility development guidance over the course of the partnership.
“Proflex surfaces have been trusted at the highest levels of world sport for over a decade, from the ABN AMRO Championship in Rotterdam to the Cincinnati Open and Washington Open, and on Davis Cup and Fed Cup courts where players like Roger Federer and Andy Murray have competed,” said Craig Wilson, sales director, Proflex. “The NEC is the next chapter in that story. Sixty two courts, the largest indoor pickleball tournament in the world, built to the same standard the professional game demands.”