Tennis Australia Press Release, December 3, 2021

The summer of tennis officially launched this week with AusPlay data reporting a record 1,529,000 Aussies, including 1,227,800 adults and 301,200 children, hitting the courts across the country throughout the latest reporting period. 

Eight-time Grand Slam champion Sam Stosur joined Chief Tennis Officer Tom Larner, and fellow player Ellen Perez today to celebrate the results at Melbourne Park.

The fastest growing sport across all ages, tennis out-performed 15 other activities and sports, including AFL, basketball and soccer, with a 37 per cent increase in adult participation alongside a 29 percent increase in children picking up a racquet. 

Coinciding with the launch of the 2022 Summer Competitive Play Calendar the country’s 1.5 million players will benefit from a new look summer of tennis complete with exciting opportunities for players to learn, play and compete. 

“The latest AusPlay data provides us with a really strong indication as to the health of Aussie tennis, giving us the perfect platform to launch what promises to be an exciting summer of tennis for grassroots participation,” Tennis Australia Chief Tennis Officer Tom Larner said.

“We are committed to improving the delivery of our leading programs, support for coaches, competitive play and places to play and a major part of this is the Australian Competitive Play Framework which forms the way forward for continued positive growth across the sport.

“Our commitment to attracting and retaining players of all abilities while continuing to develop future champions has led to the development of an aspirational player pathway which targets players along the entire player journey from exploring tennis at a local level to excelling on the international circuit.

“Delivering on player-centric pathways and level-based competitive opportunities, the competitive playing calendar will see the adoption of the UTR Rating system across all events from 1 January 2022. 

“And with more than 75 per cent of the Australian population now with access to online court bookings through play.tennis.com.au, we’re gearing up for an exciting summer of tennis with more people, playing more tennis, more of the time.” 

Ensuring the overall health of tennis across all functions of the sport, Tennis Australia continues work on an extensive coach review process, alongside implementing support for the good governance of clubs with the launch of the innovative new Health Indicator of Tennis (HIT) tool. 

Tennis Participation fast facts

• 1.529 million Australians played tennis in the 12 months ending June 2021 according to the latest AusPlay data
• Adult participation grew 37 per cent to 1.2278 million over the 12 months
• Kids participation grew 29 per cent to 301,200 over the same time period
• Both adults and kids had the highest percentage increase of any of the top 15 activities listed in the AusPlay data
• 92 per cent of Australian parents surveyed** believe children should learn tennis from a young age
• 82 per cent of survey** respondents were aware of the benefits associated with playing tennis as a child including physical fitness, coordination, confidence and social skills
• Casual court hire through the Book a Court system saw more than 450,000 bookings, with 43,000 new or returning players in the 12 months leading ending September 2021
• Clubs using ClubSpark experienced a 49 per cent increase in total bookings, with court hire accounting for more than 520,000 bookings over the same period.

Coach review

Launched in May 2021, the Coach Review was established to identify ways to better support, attract and develop coaches across Australia. 

HIT tool for clubs

The Health Indicator of Tennis (HIT) tool will assist clubs in turning insights into actions to ensure good governance across all club functions including finance, facilities, participation and child safeguarding protocols.   

To get involved and find out more about court hire, ANZ Tennis Hot Shots, Cardio Tennis, coaching and more, head to play.tennis.com.au.