Industry Trends Highest Since the '80s

The 2007/2008 Tennis Health Index, composed of seven key components that detail various aspects of the health of the sport in the U.S., is scheduled to be released in early April. The THI includes data from the 2007 TIA/USTA Tennis Participation Survey (left), ball shipments, online and mail participation studies, the Court Activity Monitor, and facility and player surveys.

As of mid-March, five of the seven indexes have been received and all are reporting positive numbers, which is good news for all in the tennis industry.

Tennis Participation Fast Facts

Frequent Participation Up 15.1% since 2003

Total participation... is up for 2007 (3.8%) to 25.1 million players, from 24.2 in 2006.
Total play occasions... are also up (3.1%) from 2006-to 533 million from 517 million.
Frequent players... are up (1.2%) to 5.25 million, from 5.19 in 2006.
New players... are down 5% (to 5.7 million from 6.0 million).
Continuing players... are up 5.6% (to 13.92 million from 13.18 million).
Rejoiners... are up 10.2% (to 5.48 million from 4.97 million).
Lapsed players... are down 3.3% (to 22.88 million from 23.65 million-which is good, because fewer people are giving up the game).

Racquet shipments (in units) have increased over the last five years by 42.1% in dollars. Racquet shipments (in wholesale dollars) have increased for the last five years by 36%. One racquet category that has seen exceptional growth in that time is the sale of Youth Racquets, which are up by 80%. Ball shipments since 2003 have increased by 15%.

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