Global tennis participation surpasses 100 million people, says federation

MADRID (AP) — The number of people who play tennis has surpassed 100 million worldwide, according to the International Tennis Federation.

A global report released by the federation on Thursday said that nearly 106 million people around the world played at least one game of tennis in the last year, an increase of 25% compared to 2019.

The federation said it was on track to add 30 million players to the game since that report in 2019.

The total number of women who play tennis grew by 8%, but the proportion of female players decreased from 47% in 2019 to 40% now. The federation said there are 13% more coaches in general, and 24% are women, compared to 20% in 2019.

ITF tennis development director Luca Santilli said there was no “specific reason" for the decrease in the percentage of women players, but he expected that the increase in the number of female coaches was going to help make a “difference” in getting more women playing the game.

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis