Recent surge in tennis participation outpacing all other racquet sports, study finds

With an increase of nearly 5 million players since 2019, tennis participation in the United States is outpacing that of all other racquet sports, according to new analysis from Sports Marketing Surveys. SMS released this and other data as a follow-up to the Physical Activity Council’s (PAC) Participation Report, an annual study that reports and monitors more than 120 different sports and activities participated in by Americans. 

Earlier this year, the USTA announced the PAC study's latest findings: that more than 22.6 million players took to the court in 2021, a 4.5% increase from 2020 and a 27.9% increase from 2019. Tennis participation has grown by 4.9 million tennis players over the last two years, an increase that has outpaced that of pickleball, badminton, table tennis and padel combined, and has largely been driven by a rise in popularity amongst young people and communities of color.