Tennis organisers in Wales are celebrating a huge rise in the number of adults playing the game.
The Sport Wales Active Adult Survey shows adult tennis participation in Wales has increased from approximately 27,000 to approximately 45,000.
The news follows research last year, showing that almost one in three children in Wales played tennis outside of school hours in the previous 12 months, and that tennis was the third most popular sport that primary school children wanted to play, after swimming and soccer.
“Combined with the amazing results we got at the end of last year from the School Sport Survey, the results paint an extremely positive picture for the growth of tennis participation in Wales over the last few years,” said Tennis Wales chief executive, Peter Drew.
“This shows that efforts to make tennis more accessible – in different formats and different venues – are really paying off.
“We now have fun, easy-to-play formats, such as timed tennis, touchtennis, and cardio tennis; and clubs are making themselves more accessible and promoting themselves better. There is also more support for the public to play casual tennis in parks and leisure centres.”
Through the summer, Tennis Wales and the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) are supporting a series of Great British Tennis Weekends, offering free tennis sessions in a range of formats across Wales.
The weekends enable people to try out activities such as Cardio Tennis, Mini Tennis, receive tennis coaching or simply turn up and play with their friends and family – all completely free. Information is available at www.lta.org.uk and the remaining dates are:
• Saturday 21st – Sunday 22nd June
• Saturday 28th – Sunday 29th June
• Saturday 19th – Sunday 20th July.
“Tennis Wales has also supported clubs through the Club Mark scheme,” said Mr Drew. “We’ve taken a much more focused approach to help clubs grow and develop, and conducted regular club forums to help them maximise how they can attract and retain more players.
“This is a great reflection on all the hard work by everyone at Tennis Wales and by the club volunteers throughout Wales.
“The game has tremendous benefits for individuals in terms of physical and mental health, and these knock on as benefits to society in Wales more widely,” he added.