U.S. tennis participation statistics: 27.3 million players in 2025

On this page, a player means anyone ages 6 and older who played tennis at least once during the year. USTA also tracks core players, defined as people who played 10 or more times in the past 12 months. In 2025, core players reached 14.5 million, representing 53% of all players and accounting for 93% of total play occasions.

These participation numbers come from two national studies: the Physical Activity Council Study and the PLAY Study. Each surveys 18,000 people ages 6 and older annually, and the National Golf Foundation analyzes and validates the combined data.

The headline is not just that more people tried tennis once. Frequent play also grew. Core players rose by 1.5 million year over year to 14.5 million, while total play occasions climbed to 616 million, or about 23 sessions per player on average.

USTA also says 4.9 million Americans played tennis for the first time in 2025, 20.7 million stayed in the sport from the prior year, and 1.7 million returned after at least 12 months away. That mix of more beginners, strong retention, and meaningful reactivation is a stronger signal than a one-year spike by itself.

The growth was broad. Women added 1.1 million players in 2025. Participation among Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, and Asian/Pacific Islander players also grew faster than the overall market. USTA says adults 35 and older drove nearly 95% of the year's growth, while youth participation still increased by 200,000.

USTA says the 2025 increase was driven by more play occasions, more players entering and staying in the sport, and strong momentum among women and communities of color. In other words, tennis is not just attracting curiosity. More people are staying, and more of them are playing often enough to count as regular players.

That distinction matters. Total participation tells you how many people picked up a racquet during the year. Core participation tells you how many turned tennis into a real habit. In 2025, both numbers moved up.

The national trend is clear: tennis is larger than it was before the pandemic, and the sport has now posted six straight years of growth. If you are thinking about starting, returning, or playing more regularly, you are joining a sport that is still expanding.

The hard part is not reading that tennis is growing. It is finding people nearby who are at your level, on your schedule, and interested in a regular game.

That is where Doyouplay fits: helping turn broad participation into actual, repeatable matches.