Forbes article on US tennis participation

[Moon Shooter]

Tennis Participation Surges For Third Year In A Row, Up 33% Since 2020

Last year, U.S. tennis participation bounced up further by one million players with more than 23.6 million people playing the sport.

www.forbes.com

Just a few of the interesting points:

33% increase in tennis after 2020.

11% increase to USTA in 2022.
But see Schmke's blog about how this may be somewhat misleading:
https://computerratings.blogspot.com/2022/11/usta-adult-league-participation-2013.html

US Open broke some records.

USTA spent $750k on courts around the country.

"Last year, the USTA Foundation, the charitable arm of the USTA, also granted over $435,000 in scholarship funds to 46 student leaders. The USTA Foundation provided over $7 million in support, services, and funding to National Tennis & Learning (NJTL) chapters."


Study suggests tennis is healthier then activities like cycling and swimming.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

Study suggests tennis is healthier then activities like [...] swimming.

Especially if one has a tendency to drown.

 

[J D]

LOL, the article is misleading in some ways. The average hard court costs $30K to $60K. That $750K did not build 585 courts, but it may have been some small contributions to funds that did build 585 courts.

$750K = about 15 new courts, or less than 1 per every 3 states.

I believe Covid did result in a resurgence in tennis among younger people. The local college tennis club went from 10 to 30 members in the last 3 years. I see a lot more people on the courts than I used to. USTA had nothing to do with any of this, sadly.

 

[onehandbh]

"The USTA has created quite a racket in schools, too. In 2022, the USTA donated tennis equipment to nearly 1,600 schools, encompassing around 5.9 million children"

5.9 million is not a lot considering there are about 70 million people in the US under the age of 18.

 

[onehandbh]

https://computerratings.blogspot.com/2022/11/usta-adult-league-participation-2013.html

According to @schmke 's blog, USTA participation has been on a steady decline since 2013.
How much of this can be attributed to UTR alternative matches/leagues?

It does seem to me that the USTA is taking any serious action to make tennis more population in children aged K-12.
IMO, the way to do this is by working with the public schools to have tennis introduced as part of their physical education and activities.
I do not recall tennis being part of any of my P.E. classes when I was in school (K-12). Many other sports were, though. (e.g. wrestling, baseball, basketball, football, soccer, handball, track&field, ...).

Having pressureless balls that lasts and bounces decently would help. Once a kid buys a basketball, it lasts for a long time and it can be used by many kids.

 

[Jack the Hack]

Membership at our club has doubled in the past 6 months if that is any indication. At the same time, court time is packed at the other two clubs within a 10 mile radius.

 

[Moon Shooter]

According to @schmke 's blog, USTA participation has been on a steady decline since 2013.
How much of this can be attributed to UTR alternative matches/leagues?

It does seem to me that the USTA is taking any serious action to make tennis more population in children aged K-12.
IMO, the way to do this is by working with the public schools to have tennis introduced as part of their physical education and activities.
I do not recall tennis being part of any of my P.E. classes when I was in school (K-12). Many other sports were, though. (e.g. wrestling, baseball, basketball, football, soccer, handball, track&field, ...).

Having pressureless balls that lasts and bounces decently would help. Once a kid buys a basketball, it lasts for a long time and it can be used by many kids.

generally I think usta spends too much on juniors camps (I suspect that there may tie ins with the fact plenty of people involved with usta just happen to run academies for juniors) as compared to adult tennis. Usta often presents tennis as something kids do unless you want a scholarship or turn pro. The main advantage of tennis is you can play later in life.

But if they could include tennis in grammar school PE. The problem for schools is weather and cost of courts makes this impractical.

 

[Moon Shooter]

Tennis has always seemed to be doing well in my area. Men’s usta is growing because me and a friend started putting teams together. We will see how that goes. Women in my area seem to have more established usta leagues then men. I’m not sure much has changed for them.

 

[brian anderson]

the usta is a money making joke. they should have paved the country in courts over the past 50 years but keep the cash to pay themselves. all the while if u want to play in most places u have to join a club. this joke of an organization rips off its members only to pay themselves

 

[cks]

The main advantage of tennis is you can play later in life.

So true.
I played tennis for two (2) summers in middle school. Then I picked the sport back up in my late 40s.

 

[schmke]

Tennis Participation Surges For Third Year In A Row, Up 33% Since 2020

Last year, U.S. tennis participation bounced up further by one million players with more than 23.6 million people playing the sport.

www.forbes.com

Just a few of the interesting points:

33% increase in tennis after 2020.

11% increase to USTA in 2022.
But see Schmke's blog about how this may be somewhat misleading:
https://computerratings.blogspot.com/2022/11/usta-adult-league-participation-2013.html

Yep, while 2022 was up over 2021, 2022 is still down from 2019. The amount it was down was at least continuing the trend from prior years if not slightly accelerated. 2023 participation will be the real barometer of USTA League participation as we should (hopefully) be past increases due to folks returning from COVID and not have any other remarkable events affecting participation. If there is growth over 2022, that is a positive and may indicate the USTA is capitalizing on the general increase in tennis participation and converting some portion of those players to league play.

Note that the USTA says an 11% increase 2021 to 2022, my analysis said 10%, although my analysis was looking at a subset of the leagues (the primary ones folks play, 18+/40+/55+) so that is likely the reason for the small difference. Still, it would seem to validate that my analysis is fairly accurate, meaning the overall continued drop from pre-COVID is accurate.

 

[TomTennis495]

Im just going what i see in the Washington DC/NoVA area. Pickleball is THRIVING ( i hate pickleball) New and really nice courts in VA, DC, MD. Im jealous.

Tennis is rapid decline. I can count 3 indoor/outdoor clubs that have closed down in the past 5 years. Given what i see on local courts and pool clubs i dont see much hope. Even super nice days courts are 1/2 to 2/3 capacity. Gone are the days you needed to sign up for a court. Gone are the days where you can replace good hitting partners when one of your regulars move.

 

[Rosstour]

Im just going what i see in the Washington DC/NoVA area. Pickleball is THRIVING ( i hate pickleball) New and really nice courts in VA, DC, MD. Im jealous.

Tennis is rapid decline. I can count 3 indoor/outdoor clubs that have closed down in the past 5 years. Given what i see on local courts and pool clubs i dont see much hope. Even super nice days courts are 1/2 to 2/3 capacity. Gone are the days you needed to sign up for a court. Gone are the days where you can replace good hitting partners when one of your regulars move.

Hmm.

Four Seasons?

 

[TomTennis495]

Yup as well as PTC and mount Vernon indoor

 

[bobleenov1963]

Im just going what i see in the Washington DC/NoVA area. Pickleball is THRIVING ( i hate pickleball) New and really nice courts in VA, DC, MD. Im jealous.

Tennis is rapid decline. I can count 3 indoor/outdoor clubs that have closed down in the past 5 years. Given what i see on local courts and pool clubs i dont see much hope. Even super nice days courts are 1/2 to 2/3 capacity. Gone are the days you needed to sign up for a court. Gone are the days where you can replace good hitting partners when one of your regulars move.

There are so many public tennis courts in Northern Virginia and Maryland but not many of them are below 50% usage. For example, there are 8 beautiful tennis courts at Robert Frost school in Rockville Maryland and on most days, less than half is being used. One thing I noticed is that more Asians and Indians are playing tennis than any other minority groups. I don't see that many AA playing tennis. The same with golf as well. I can go to any of the driving range on the weekends and probably half the people at the driving range practicing are Asians. Another thing, more PB courts are being built in Fairfax County. They took away one tennis court at a park near where I live, used to have 6 tennis courts, now there are five, and built 4 brand new PB courts. PB courts are always occupied, even on a cold and windy day while tennis courts are just sitting there empty.

 

[brian anderson]

Im just going what i see in the Washington DC/NoVA area. Pickleball is THRIVING ( i hate pickleball) New and really nice courts in VA, DC, MD. Im jealous.

Tennis is rapid decline. I can count 3 indoor/outdoor clubs that have closed down in the past 5 years. Given what i see on local courts and pool clubs i dont see much hope. Even super nice days courts are 1/2 to 2/3 capacity. Gone are the days you needed to sign up for a court. Gone are the days where you can replace good hitting partners when one of your regulars move.

this is not the case in so cal where all the courts are full and people constantly come to the gate asking how much longer u will be.

 

[bobleenov1963]

this is not the case in so cal where all the courts are full and people constantly come to the gate asking how much longer u will be.

There are so many nice free public tennis courts, with lights in the evening, in Cocoa beach Florida with very little usage. For example, the one on Kiwanis in Merritt Island.

Maybe there are not enough tennis courts in Southern California?

 

[brian anderson]

There are so many nice free public tennis courts, with lights in the evening, in Cocoa beach Florida with very little usage. For example, the one on Kiwanis in Merritt Island.

Maybe there are not enough tennis courts in Southern California?

city of irvine has 98 tennis courts. if u think u are getting 1 on a sat morning ur dreaming.

https://www.cityofirvine.org/racket-sports

 

[bobleenov1963]

city of irvine has 98 tennis courts. if u think u are getting 1 on a sat morning ur dreaming.

https://www.cityofirvine.org/racket-sports

Do these tennis courts have lights? There are lights on tennis courts in Kwanis Park in Merritt Island FL: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/p/AF1QipNyDr8Womr3XPh0L84un76q5Dl35eHCHQZgVIGz=s680-w680-h510

 

[Moon Shooter]

the usta is a money making joke. they should have paved the country in courts over the past 50 years but keep the cash to pay themselves. all the while if u want to play in most places u have to join a club. this joke of an organization rips off its members only to pay themselves

Usta financials are too vague to tell for sure where that money goes. But I know when national organizations talk about how many services they provide “juniors” it often is just giving large amounts to connected people/academies.

 

[onehandbh]

"Last year, the USTA Foundation, the charitable arm of the USTA, also granted over $435,000 in scholarship funds to 46 student leaders. The USTA Foundation provided over $7 million in support, services, and funding to National Tennis & Learning (NJTL) chapters."

Meanwhile, the USTA used to pay Patrick McEnroe $1,000,000 a year.

 

[Moon Shooter]

Meanwhile, the USTA used to pay Patrick McEnroe $1,000,000 a year.

Usually I don’t complain about salaries for private companies but usta has a monopoly on the pro game in the us. They are giving more to a single connected person then all the money on tennis court infrastructure throughout the entire country.