Tennis participation in the United States rose to 25.7 million players in 2024, the sport’s fifth consecutive year of growth, the U.S. Tennis Association said Wednesday, citing an analysis of numbers drawn from two studies not yet fully released.
The jump of 1.9 million players from 2023’s total of 23.8 million participants represents an 8% increase and means one in 12 Americans played tennis last year, the USTA said.
USTA CEO Lew Sherr said his group — which oversees tennis in the country and runs the annual U.S. Open Grand Slam tournament — aims to get the sport’s total participants in the United States to 35 million by 2035, which he calls “a goal that is both actionable and achievable.”
To help reach it, the USTA on Wednesday pledged $10 million in grants in 2025 “to help build, refurbish and extend playable hours on courts across the United States.” That is up from last year’s commitment of $1.2 million, which covered more than 500 courts open to the public.
This is all against a backdrop of the surging popularity of pickleball, which has jumped from nearly no presence in the U.S. to more than 13 million Americans over three years, with its participation figures growing more than 200% in that span.
