Lots to dissect in your comments. It looks like you are suggesting that tennis isn't worth it for young players, and you don't see the value in college tennis....Since you are asking I will try to give my thoughts:
Scholarship can't be a valid point, since it costs more than college itself to build a D1 player.
I know guys who spend $40k-$80k a years on junior tennis.
Not playing tennis and paying $250k cash for college is way cheaper than a scholarship.
If you can afford to groom a D1 player, you don't need a scholarship.
You have some interesting observations here. The costs to play tennis are definitely high in the US, and unlike many other sports the players are competing with players around the world for scholarships. This has a lot to do with the decline in US talent at the highest levels since the early 90's, there just aren't as many kids out there competing in tennis. There are many factors besides money, but costs have certainly become one. And for most parents if scholarship is the goal, they push their kids into other sports more affordable. Many of the best players have parents that played, so they are groomed under them.
Keep in mind that for men only 4.5 scholarships are allowed per D-1 team, and at many levels there are no scholarships. Many of the kids competing aren't doing it for the scholarship they are doing it because they love tennis and want to represent the school. latests stats have 65% of scholarships going to International players, so for US parents its definitely not worth it
Does anyone even care about college tennis as a spectator sport?
Many ATP matches appear empty, so it can't be for the spectator attention aspect like college Football or Basketball
A ton of people do, its why it has its own thread, websites, podcasts and other stuff out there. Just like other sports some schools have tons of student and spectator support, other schools they don't care. But its followed by a lot of people and the matches are fun to watch. And in many cases more exciting then sitting through a grinding ATP 5 set match
Outside of power 5 conferences, I am not sure its entirely accurate that anyone shows up to football or basketball games either. College sports in general are money losers, and many schools try and bank on their football and basketball games bringing in revenue to support their other programs. But these sports are expensive to operate, and most of them break even or are in the red. Outside of the top programs, there is hardly a revenue sport bringing in revenue to support the whole athletic department. So when you see tennis teams and other sports getting cut, its a signal the budget is tight for those schools. Many tennis teams operate on donors and philanthropy to survive. MAC schools are a great group to look at. Driven by their conference commissioner in the 80's (who was a football guys and saw football as the golden goose for the conference, able to one day compete with the Big Ten), all of the schools were put under requirements to upgrade their football programs: stadiums, fields, coaching staffs, scoreboards; etc, etc. This cost was so heavy, with no returns from the games or merchandise, that the schools went broke doing it while trying to budget for more women's programs. What did they all do? Cut their tennis teams....
I am curious what the end game is for making tennis the center of your life from age 8-22
Only to never play again, pretty much, after college ends.
Its a great sport! People love it, and its a great sport for kids. Its just monopolized and mismanaged at all levels. And many people play tennis their whole life. Other sports literally they never play again....With tennis some don't want to, can't afford it yet, or take a break; but most stay with the game. So never playing again isn't correct comparatively. However, I will say that the options for ex college players are limited and restricted, and the USTA does a horrible job of keeping these players with the sport. Most take on new jobs, or go to grad school, so finding time to play tennis is difficult. When I graduated I was immediately relocated to a city, and had zero time to play. It wasn't that I didn't want to, it was just that I didn't even know what to do and was making the bottom of the salary to even afford joining a club and playing....So it wasn't an option
Hopefully over the next year you get a chance to attend some high level college tennis matches, it may change your opinion