Tennis in the US: Association and Industry May Overstate Sport’s Popularity

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: March 24, 2011

commentComment        

There continue to be many tennis players in the United States. There are many tennis associations in the US, including the strong USTA. There are reports that the number of high schools with tennis has increased over the recent past. And from all appearances, tennis continues to thrive in this country.

But there are few US players of any note in international competition. More importantly, a general decline in tennis in the US may be underway.

The following reports on information gained from a number of sources. What is readily obvious when one begins to search for facts on tennis is that, despite the fact that the USTA is a nonprofit organization, it reports on very little membership information. In fact,the USTA appears to have only one general statement about membership. According to its website, USTA has "More than 700,000 individual members and 7,000 organizational members, thousands of volunteers, and a professional staff dedicated to growing the game."

Information on the sport is available from the US Census Bureau. Interestingly, the information there comes from the Tennis Industry Association (TIA). Thus, we see to begin with that largely self-interested organizations report on the health of the sport in the US.

An industry study undertaken by sports equipment manufacturer associations (including the TIA) and the USTA noted that participation in tennis had grown by 46 percent since 2000. Where did this figure come from?

In 2005 USTA estimated there were 25 million players in the US. This fact appears to have come from the tennis equipment manufacturers, who claimed the figure was nearly 25 million in 2005 in a report to the United States Census Bureau. This includes everyone who had picked up a racquet once during each of the reporting years. How the manufacturers had any idea that someone had played one game is nowhere to be found.

One might think, why bother? After all, a...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

Latest News


Comments

Comments are closed.

Sponsors

Bruins Tickets The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League.

Red Wings Tickets The Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League.

Penguins Tickets The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League.

New York Rangers Tickets play their home games at Madison Square Garden, they are one of the oldest teams in the NHL, having joined in 1926 as an expansion franchise, and are part of the group of teams referred to as the Original Six.

San Jose Sharks Tickets The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California, United States.

Toronto Maple Leafs Tickets The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League.

New Jersey Devils Tickets The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League.

Washington Capitals Tickets The Washington Capitals are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C.

Buffalo Sabres Tickets The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League. Get the Sabres and all of your NHL Tickets here.

NASCAR season is on of the most attended sports in the world. NASCAR Tickets to the best tracks is a must every year. Some of these tracks are: Talladega Tickets, Lowes Motor Speedway Tickets, Pocono Raceway Tickets, located in Ridgeway Virginia you have Martinsville Speedway Tickets and southern US you have two of the most popular Atlanta Motor Speedway Tickets and Texas Motor Speedway Tickets. Don't miss all the racing events this year!

Boston Red Sox Tickets The Boston Red Sox are a member of the Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Since 1912, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park. This is one of the hottest MLB Tickets sales of any team in the major league.

New York Yankees Tickets The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the borough of the Bronx, in New York City, New York and are a member of Major League Baseball's American League East Division. Get tickets to one of the hottest games of the season Yankees Red Sox Tickets.

Chicago Cubs Tickets The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League.

Phillies Tickets The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883.

Orioles Tickets The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland.

Do you love wrestling? Get your WWE Tickets and WWE Survivor Series Tickets today!