Tennis is one of the most popular individual sports in history. Generations of tennis rivalries have drawn massive viewership to the game, and have without a doubt encouraged more people to play tennis at every level of the sport. But just how many people play tennis in the world? In this article we’ve taken a look at some of the most interesting tennis participation statistics from around the globe.
Tennis participation statistics
If you’re looking for a short version of the most important tennis participation statistics, here it is:
Based on 2019 data, 87 million play tennis worldwide, which is approx. 1.17% of the global population.
47% of tennis players are female and 53% are male.
There were a total of 3873 professional tennis players ranked in 2017.
25 million people play tennis in Europe, 12% of which live in the UK.
17.84 million people play tennis in the United States.
How many people play tennis in the world?
The ITF Global Tennis Report 2019 estimated that a total of 87 million people play tennis around the world, which is approximately 1.17% of the global population.
China (22.5%), the US (20.7%) & India (9.2%) combined account for more than 50% of the global tennis population.
What percentage of tennis players are female?
The ITF reports that of the 87 million tennis players worldwide, approximately 47% of players are female and 53% are male.
The ITF reports that North America is the only region to have more female tennis players than male, with approximately 55% of tennis players being female. All other regions showed a more male dominated tennis population. South America, the most male dominant region in the world, recorded just 21.6% of tennis players are female.
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How many people play tennis in Europe?
The 2018 European Tennis Report found that approximately 25 million people play tennis in Europe.
Tennis Europe estimates that 88.8% of those 25 million players come from what they have classed as A-Nations, which are: Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. It’s worth noting however that these 10 countries make up approximately 60% of the population of Europe. So in other words, roughly 9 in 10 European tennis players live in either Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Sweden or Switzerland.
In fact, six nations, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Spain and – for the first time – Russia, each account for 10% or more of the total number of players in Europe. That means that more than 60% of Europe’s tennis market can be found in these six nations.
The 2019 ITF Global Tennis Report estimated that almost 41% of tennis players in Europe are female and 59% are male.
How many people play tennis in the US?
In 2020, the Tennis Industry Association reported that a total of 17.84 million people will play tennis in the United States. Of those, 9.67 million people are classed as Core Tennis Players and play tennis more than 10 times a year. Though not by much, the TIA reported that tennis participation grew by 0.9% from 17.68 million participants in 2017 to 17.84 million participants in 2018.
Approximately 55% of tennis participants in the US are male and 45% are female tennis players.
How many professional tennis players are there in the world?
The ITF Global Tennis Report 2019 found that a total of 3873 professional players were ranked on the pro tour in 2017 (2348 male players and 1525 female players).
In addition, the ITF reported a total of 6382 junior players were ranked in 2017 (3187 male players and 3195 female players).
In terms of their performance, it’s interesting to note that 55 nations had at least one male or female player ranked inside the world's top 100, and 59 nations had at least one boy or girl ranked in the top 100 of the junior rankings.
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