NET GAINS

More people worldwide are playing tennis than ever before. SportsNation takes a deep dive into the recently published ITF Global Tennis Report, which shows that participation in the sport now exceeds 100 million across 199 countries

The number of people globally playing tennis has risen above 100 million for the first time ever. The latest ITF Global Tennis Report, published on 28 November 2024, shows that there are just under 106 million people playing tennis at some level. The number is a significant increase on the figure of 84.4 million recorded in 2019 – the last time that the International Tennis Federation (ITF) compiled its wide-ranging report.

Global success

The ITF report is the biggest-ever survey of tennis participation levels, with tennis associations from more than 199 countries feeding data into a snapshot of today’s tennis landscape from once-a-year leisure players to top professionals.

It shows that the country with the highest number of tennis players is the USA (23.8 million). The good news is that, in terms of percentage of the population, Great Britain is top with 13.4%, followed by Canada second with 12.8%.

From a facility point of view, the report shows that there are 698,034 tennis courts in the world. Of these, a huge majority (91.2%) are outdoors. When it comes to surface types, more than half (55.3%) are hard courts – topped with acrylic paint – and a quarter (25.7%) are clay.

“The results show that tennis is very strong after the Covid period,” says ITF President, David Haggerty

“In 2019 we set ourselves the task of having 120 million people playing tennis around the world by 2030, as part of our efforts to develop the next generation of players and make tennis accessible to all. The significant growth in participation reflects the proactive and sustained efforts of national associations, supported by the ITF as the global guardians of the game, to expand tennis in a strategic and inclusive manner.”

There are some areas to improve, though. The data shows that the percentage of female players has fallen in the five years since the last report (in 2019) from 47% to 40.3%. This despite the fact that the actual number of women and girls playing tennis has grown by 8.3%.

Luca Santilli, the ITF’s Executive Director for Tennis Development, however, urges caution in interpreting the numbers. “The data we have in 2024 is more reliable than we had in 2019,” he explains.

“In 2019, 26% of our data from national associations was reinforced by additional data sources, whereas now 48% of the data has been bolstered by additional sources. It’s therefore possible that we slightly overestimated the level of female participation in 2019.

“What’s clear from our leading nations is that women and girls make up around 45% of participation, which means there’s still work to do, but the situation is not as stark as the 6.7% fall makes it seem.”

In any case, the research has helped ITF identify the need for more female coaches as a way of achieving gender parity – the report shows that just 24.3% of tennis coaches are women. Among the people it has talked to is Judy Murray, the mother and coach of two Grand Slam champions.

“Judy made it clear to us that girls need to be taught differently than boys,” says Santilli, “for example, girls see tennis more socially than boys, so this is an area for us to work on which will hopefully reveal more progress in 2028.”

Playing for health

The report also suggests that there is scope for the lifestyle benefits of tennis to drive further growth in participation. Around 45% of players in developed countries cite the health and social benefits of tennis as a primary reason for their participation. This is backed up by a 2018 study from the University of Copenhagen, which shows tennis as one of the healthiest sports in terms of prolonging longevity, adding an estimated 9.7 years to the average life, compared with 3.5 for swimming and 3.0 for jogging.

Tennis adds an estimated 9.7 years to life expectancy, making it one of the healthiest of sports

“Tennis is attractive as a sport for life with proven benefits to health and mental wellbeing,” Santilli says. “Recent market research found that 45% of people play tennis because of its health benefits, and 40% of players are also inspired by the sport’s social side. All these factors combine to make tennis a mass participation sport that few others can match.”

Policy

High visibility

According to ITF President Haggerty, the popularity of tennis is also boosted by being “one of very few truly global sports”. “Tennis benefits from international stars at the elite level – both men and women – who provide inspiration and role models for anyone who wants to pick up a racket,” he says.

“The Olympics and Paralympics also play a significant role too, as both a global showcase for tennis and a springboard for investment at the national level. At Paris 2024 we saw again the Games’ ability to create heroes in our sport for aspiring professional and recreational players alike. The Olympics – alongside our World Cup of Tennis events, the Major tournaments and the Davis Cup – are also a powerful platform for the visibility of tennis internationally.”

The 2024 report is the third edition of ITF’s global survey charting the tennis-playing habits of the world – and the largest report yet. Santilli says that the data gathering has improved in the past five years.

“Over the last three editions of the report, nations have improved their processes for collecting and sourcing data, and we are confident that what is presented here alongside performance pathway data reflects the worldwide state of the game,” he reveals.

“The data provided by this report helps shape our development strategies for the future under our ITF2024+4 roadmap. Acting on insight from both this and previous editions, we are working on bringing more women into the game as players and coaches through our Advantage All gender equality programme.

“In 2019 we set an ambitious goal to have 30 million more tennis players by 2030, and I am delighted that we are on track to achieve this.”

The number of tennis players globally has surged to 106 million, a significant jump from 84.4 million in 2019