When tennis reaches every corner of the planet
The WTA tour’s top 10 female athletes come from 10 distinct countries of origin. Tennis is lucky to see such an amazing amount of diversity and talent sprouting from all parts of the world. United States, Russia, France and Spain are all considered countries where tennis plays a significant part of their cultures. Millions of fans follow their favorite tennis stars and teams for every tournament played on tour.
What’s next for the sport?
National pride – a media story
The camera and media capture matches that will broadcast in Li Na’s home country, China. (Getty Images)
As the 4th most played sport in the world, tennis is often broadcasted and analyzed. It is estimated that there are about 1 billion tennis players and fans in the world today. A player’s spectacular performances can often help improve the popularity of tennis in his or her nation. This was seen most recently after Li Na’s convincing win in the 2011 French Open.
China, a country that excels and focuses on table tennis and badminton, has begun to focus heavily on tennis in the past years as well. Li Na’s final against Kim Clijsters garnered the attention of 120 million viewers in China. In addition, tennis-theme trips increased by 82% in China from 2012 to 2013. Similar effects have been observed in Russia and Serbia, where Maria Sharapova and Novak Djokovic have driven up the popularity of tennis in their respective home countries.
A few decades ago, the top spots in the ATP world tour rankings were dominated by American tennis players such as Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and John McEnroe. In the past few years, however, tennis has become more diverse, featuring new talents from many parts of the world and competitive players from nations such as Spain. Through the use of television podcasts and internet streaming, the popularity of tennis has become greater than ever.
Rivalries like those between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, and Djokovic and Nadal, are viewed widely across the world, gathering many fans. In fact, tennis is now more accessible than ever: a few clicks on Youtube can lead fans to thousands of match highlights or full matches. It is conclusive that tennis is slowly gaining attention from more and more countries around the world. Social media is the key to sharing and promoting tennis to more and more people every day.
Improving conditions for the players
A tennis player has the ability to win over the hearts of millions from his or her country. He or she can become a legend, a role model, and inspire more people to play the game. Tennis does not require a large number of players – an amateur can hit balls against walls and experienced players have matches with each other. In fact, tennis is played by all age groups because it is not as physically intensive as some sports such as football and wrestling – teens, adults and seniors are all seen on the tennis courts.
As the conditions for players constantly improve on the ATP and WTA tours, more and more young athletes decide to turn pro. As a result, the competition on the tours becomes fiercer with each successive year. For instance, the WTA tour has changed to provide equal prize money for female athletes and male athletes, which has encouraged more equity and motivation for the WTA tour to evolve. In recent years, tennis officials have increased testing for drugs in order to uphold the quality of professional play. More is done every year to provide better environments for athletes to compete, in tournaments of great history and tradition.
The future?
Tennis is a sport that is constantly changing. Every year more and more people follow the sport, or pick up a racket because of social media and promotions. No matter who competes, or in what stage they’re competing, tennis is growing strong. Its future seems bright.