Baseball Football Basketball and Other Popular Sports - Tennis Is On The Upswing

Through the 1960s, tennis was popular primarily among the affluent. The game became "fashionable" and gained broader participation in the 1970s, but industry experts reported that many tennis players turned to aerobics and other fitness activities in the 1980s. In 1987 the SGMA reported that 21.1 million Americans played tennis. (See Table 1.6 in Chapter 1.)

In the 1990s tennis participation declined further, with the total number of U.S. tennis players six years of age or older falling to 19.3 million in 1993 and then to 16.9 million in 1998. The trend was reversed in the early years of the twenty-first century, however, as participation climbed from a low of 15.1 million in 2001 to 17.3 million in 2003, according to the SGMA. (See Table 1.6 in Chapter 1.)

The increase in participation was attributable in part to a five-year, $50 million program launched during the 1990s. Called USA Tennis Plan for Growth, it offered free lessons around the country. By 2001 more than one million people had received lessons in six hundred cities, and in 2002 it was extended for another five years in an attempt to further boost the number of tennis players.

Another factor helping increase interest in tennis was the widespread popularity of several professional players. In a 2004 Harris poll ranking of favorite female sports stars, the top two named were sisters Venus and Serena Williams, with Anna Kournikova placing sixth and retired star Chris Evert ninth. Although no tennis players made the 2004 list of most popular stars of both sexes, in 2003 the list had included Serena Williams and Andre Agassi.