29 June 2020 | Tennis SA

Data obtained from Tennis Australia’s award winning Book a Court online booking system has shown a sharp increase in the number of people playing tennis during May 2020, compared to the same time last year.

A record 32,234 bookings were made across Australia at 235 tennis venues using the technology last month (May) alone.

Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley is not surprised by the increase.

“We’ve always known that tennis is a unique sport – it can be played by anyone no matter their age or ability – and now, during the pandemic, we are seeing more people enjoying the social, mental and physical benefits of sport while maintaining strict physical distancing measures,” Tiley said.

“The increase in bookings we’ve seen across the country is not accidental. Safety and trust have been the most important factors as clubs and coaches across the country have prepared for the return to tennis and the team has done a remarkable job to give everyone the information and bio security protocols they need to get players back on court as safely as possible. And our clubs and tennis venues are seeing the rewards as a result of their efforts

“As restrictions in most of the country continue to ease over the coming months we hope to build on these results as we approach our summer, and know that as long as we all continue to play our part and practice all the physical distancing and hygiene protocols, tennis at all levels can also play a major role in the recovery from this devastating pandemic.

Book a Court data fast facts:

• An analysis of the 173 tennis venues that have been using the Book a Court system for more than 12 months showed bookings across Australia more than doubled from 10,912 in May 2019 to 22,569 in May 2020
• NSW venues alone saw a 230% increase in bookings on 2019, while in WA the increase was 141%
• Bookings at all 235 tennis venues with Book a Court technology in May 2020 showed Victoria leading the country with 13,202 bookings across 108 clubs, despite restrictions to access and play only easing from the middle of the month
• Bookings in Canberra, which usually experiences a decline along with the temperature in winter, rose to 3249 for the month
• SA, NT and Tasmania all more than doubled their bookings for 2020 despite having only a handful of clubs operating the system for more than one year
• Queensland had two of the top five clubs nationally increasing  their bookings in May, both in small regional areas.

The following table shows the total number of bookings made using the Book a Court system during May 2020 as well as the percentage increase in bookings from May 2019 compared to May 2020.

Please note: in order to not skew the results, the booking figure used to calculate percentage increase was limited to the clubs who had the Book a Court system installed in May 2019. See below:

For all of the latest information and resources about playing tennis safely please visit: tennis.com.au/play/covid-19.