{"id":24384,"date":"2021-12-01T21:12:30","date_gmt":"2021-12-01T10:42:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/?p=24384"},"modified":"2021-12-01T21:12:30","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T10:42:30","slug":"summer-of-tennis-begins-as-more-than-1-5-million-aussies-hit-the-courts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/news\/2021\/12\/01\/summer-of-tennis-begins-as-more-than-1-5-million-aussies-hit-the-courts","title":{"rendered":"Summer of tennis begins as more than 1.5 million Aussies hit the courts"},"content":{"rendered":"

The summer of tennis officially launches today, with AusPlay<\/strong> data reporting a record 1,529,000<\/strong> Aussies, including 1,227,800<\/strong> adults and 301,200<\/strong> children, hitting the courts across the country throughout the latest reporting period*.<\/p>\n

Eight-time Grand Slam champion Sam Stosur<\/strong> joined Chief Tennis Officer Tom Larner<\/strong>, and fellow player Ellen Perez<\/strong> today to celebrate the results at Melbourne Park.<\/p>\n

The fastest growing sport across all ages, tennis<\/strong> out-performed 15 other activities and sports, including AFL, basketball and soccer, with a 37 per cent increase<\/strong> in adult participation alongside a 29 percent increase<\/strong> in children picking up a racquet.<\/p>\n

Coinciding with the launch of the 2022 Summer Competitive Play Calendar<\/strong> the country\u2019s 1.5 million players will benefit from a new look summer of tennis complete with exciting opportunities for players to learn, play and compete.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe latest AusPlay data provides us with a really strong indication as to the health of Aussie tennis, giving us the perfect platform to launch what promises to be an exciting summer of tennis for grassroots participation.\u201d Tennis Australia Chief Tennis Officer Tom Larner <\/strong>said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are committed to improving the delivery of our leading programs, support for coaches, competitive play and places to play and a major part of this is the Australian Competitive Play Framework which forms the way forward for continued positive growth across the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur commitment to attracting and retaining players of all abilities while continuing to develop future champions has led to the development of an aspirational player pathway which targets players along the entire player journey from exploring tennis at a local level to excelling on the international circuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cDelivering on player-centric pathways and level-based competitive opportunities, the competitive playing calendar will see the adoption of the UTR Rating system across all events from 1 January 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd with more than 75 per cent<\/strong> of the Australian population now with access to online court bookings through play.tennis.com.au, we\u2019re gearing up for an exciting summer of tennis with more people, playing more tennis, more of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ensuring the overall health of tennis across all functions of the sport, Tennis Australia continues work on an extensive coach review process, alongside implementing support for the good governance of clubs with the launch of the innovative new Health Indicator of Tennis (HIT) tool.<\/p>\n

Tennis Participation fast facts<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n