Turns out everyone wants to play tennis right now. Here’s why that’s not slowing down anytime soon.
Six years ago, roughly 17.7 million Americans played tennis. Today, that number is 27.3 million. That is not an accidental blip. That is a sport rewriting its own story and popularity.
According to the USTA’s most recent report, tennis added 1.6 million players in 2025 alone, pushing total participation to an all-time high. Since 2019, the sport has grown 54 percent, adding nearly 10 million players over six years of growth. That means that technically one in every 12 Americans now plays tennis, the highest proportion on record.
So, what is actually driving this? And is it sustainable?
The Numbers Aren’t Lying
Start with the data, because that tells a more interesting story than just “tennis is popular again.”
The growth in 2025 was fueled by women picking up the game at record rates, with 1.1 million more women on court than the year before (a 10 percent increase). Participation among people of color also saw significant gains, with Black and African American players up 14 percent and Hispanic and Latino players up 12 percent. Tennis, for most of its American history, has carried an image problem rooted in exclusivity and access. These numbers suggest finally something is shifting.
More than half of all players, 53 percent, are now classified as “core players,” meaning that they played 10 or more times in the year. Total play occasions exceeded 616 million in 2025. People are not just trying tennis. They are playing and sticking with it.
So Why Now?
A few forces have converged to push this sport into its longest growth run in modern history.
The pandemic planted the seed. When gyms closed and team sports went dark in 2020, outdoor courts became some of the only athletic infrastructure that stayed open. Millions of people who had never seriously played showed up with a borrowed racket, used balls,and never really left.
Then came the cultural moment. The movie Challengers turned tennis into a film that people who had never watched a match went to see, twice. Zendaya, wearing Loewe and wielding a racket, made the sport feel like something beyond sport. Netflix’s Break Point also brought Grand Slam drama directly into people’s living rooms. These buzzworthy things matter. The USTA’s own data shows nearly two-thirds of all growth in 2024 came from players under 35, with those under 25 driving 45 percent of total gains. Young people do not discover sports in a vacuum. They discover them through culture.
The wellness wave is a big factor too. Racquet sports have become a preferred workout for people who want competition built into their fitness routine. Senior participation jumped 17 percent in 2024 with 302,000 new players aged 65 and older. Tennis offers something gyms cannot, which is the combination of physical output, mental sharpness, and social connection all in the same hour—not an easy ask.
The Access Problem No One Is Talking About Enough
Okay, so here’s the tension underneath all this optimism. More players means more pressure on courts, and the infrastructure has not kept pace.
The ITF estimates a global shortage of approximately 180,000 courts based on current participation levels and optimal player-to-court ratios, with urban areas facing particular challenges due to land scarcity and high construction costs. In cities like New York, a large number of courts restrict access through membership-only clubs or limited public hours. So the demand is there. It’s just that the supply is lagging.
But the USTA is responding. As part of its 2024 announcements, the organization committed $10 million in grants to courts and facilities across the country, prioritizing underserved communities. That’s a meaningful step. But court construction takes time, and people want to play now.
This is where the booking experience becomes critical. Finding available court time should not require a phone call, a club membership, or having to know the right person. Platforms like CourtsApp exist specifically to close that gap, connecting players to open courts in real time so that demand and access can meet each other seamlessly.
What This Means for Facilities
If you run a tennis facility, or a club that includes tennis among its offerings, this boom is the best possible problem to have.
Core players, those who play 10 or more times a year, grew by 11 percent in 2024 and are now 50 percent of all participants. These are not casual dabblers. They’ll come back every week if you make it easy. They will sign up for leagues, book clinics, bring friends, and build the kind of community that keeps a facility full even in the shoulder season.
The window right now is real. The USTA has set a goal of 35 million players by 2035. That trajectory runs straight through the clubs, parks, and indoor facilities where people actually show up to play.
The Game Is Growing. The Courts Need to Be Ready.
Tennis does not need another moment. It is already in one. What it needs is infrastructure, access, and the tools to connect a growing player base with the courts they are looking for.
For players, that means more options and easier booking. For facilities, it means a genuine opportunity to capture a new generation of regulars. And for the sport overall, it means the kind of sustained, diverse growth that nobody was predicting six years ago when the courts were empty and the world had stopped.
Ready to find a court and get in on it? Search courts near you on CourtsApp.
