Big Jumps In Diversity Fuel Surge In U.S. Tennis Participation Since 2020

Growth. On Thursday, america Tennis Affiliation (USTA) served up some various info concerning the growth in tennis participation that’s occurred within the U.S. since 2019. As I lined for Forbes in January, the USTA had already introduced earlier this 12 months that the growth has resulted in a internet 33% enhance within the variety of tennis gamers over the previous three years. Nicely, now the USTA has revealed that this growth has additionally included a 90% enhance within the variety of tennis gamers of Hispanic/Latino descent, a 46 % enhance within the variety of Black tennis gamers, and a 37% enhance within the variety of tennis gamers of Asian and Pacific Islander descent. These have been some huge time bounces upwards as the next graphic from the USTA exhibits:

As you possibly can see within the graphic, from 2020 to 2022, the share of all tennis gamers within the nation who determine themselves as individuals of coloration has swung up from 32.5% in 2019 to 38% in 2022. All of those numbers got here from a examine from the Bodily Exercise Council Examine on Sports activities and Bodily Exercise (PAC) administered by Sports activities Advertising Surveys USA and the Tennis Trade Affiliation Participation and Engagement Examine (PES).

The examine additionally confirmed how this growth hasn’t simply been a youth should be served state of affairs. As a substitute, new tennis gamers have spanned the age spectrum. Certain, the variety of gamers within the age 6 to 17 class went from 4.6 million in 2019 to six.9 million in 2021. However final 12 months, 4.2 million gamers who had been age 6 years and above raised a racket for the primary time to play of their lives, and most of them had been adults. In actual fact, the 12 months 2022 additionally noticed a million extra tennis gamers who had been within the 55 years and older age class, a 17% enhance. That implies that the variety of tennis participant 55 years and older within the U.S. has gone up by 94% since 2017.

All in all, with an estimated 23.6 million gamers. tennis has been creating extra of a racket than different racquet or paddle-swinging sports activities. You’d be in a little bit of a pickle if you happen to had thought extra individuals performed pickleball with 8.9 million platers, dangerous off if you happen to had guess that badminton had extra with 6.5 million, and working some sort of racket if you happen to had believed that racquetball with 3.5 million gamers might have someway topped tennis in participation. And let’s squash any ideas that the 1.2 million taking part in squash was anyplace near the tennis quantity. In actual fact, the next USTA graphic exhibits that extra individuals are taking part in tennis than the 20.1 million taking part in the opposite 4 racket and paddle sports activities mixed:

What has fueled this tennis growth over the previous three years? Nicely, there was that complete Covid-19 pandemic factor. In case you recall, again in 2020, individuals had been being urged to remain at the least six ft aside from one another. That made it troublesome to play sports activities corresponding to soccer, basketball, wrestling, chess boxing, and Muggle Quidditch. On the similar time, typical social occasions corresponding to Completely satisfied Hours the place individuals might spray saliva at one another had been canceled. That left individuals on the lookout for alternatives to get bodily exercise in addition to interact in social interactions. Tennis match the invoice then.

However different components have been at play over the previous three years too. Plenty of the USTA’s applications and investments over time have been actually paying off in recent times. These have embody initiatives to construct extra tennis courts and assist extra individuals be taught the game. For instance, the USTA Basis, the charitable arm of the USTA, has already pledged $6 million in grants to bolster the Nationwide Junior Tennis & Studying (NJTL) chapters within the coming years. These chapters provide tennis and teaching programs to youth in neighborhoods that in any other case wouldn’t have the assets to take action.

Plus, lately in comparison with the previous, you do see a greater diversity of faces taking part in tennis in any respect ranges. For instance, check out the High 50 within the males’s and ladies’s skilled world rankings and also you’ll discover a number of American gamers who would determine as individuals of coloration together with Frances Tiafoe, Brandon Nakashima, Coco Gauff, and Madison Keys. Such better range can encourage a wider vary of individuals to play tennis. In the meantime, a wider vary of individuals taking part in tennis would imply a wider and deeper pool of expertise to select from to function the following technology of American tennis stars.

After all, the overwhelming majority of tennis gamers within the U.S. is not going to make it to the skilled ranks. Nonetheless, the rise in range amongst tennis gamers normally ought to carry all kinds of advantages. It offers a better variety of individuals entry to the bodily, emotional, psychological, and social well being advantages that tennis can carry.