Players have returned to the courts in record numbers with the opening matches of the 2020/2021 Tennis West Summer League competition taking place over the weekend.
With more than 7,000 players from a record 1,027 teams registered for the 14-week summer season, tennis continues to prove its positive position with post COVID-19 numbers across both social and competitive play reaching record highs.
With players from across 61 unique metropolitan clubs contesting a total of 31 Tennis West Summer League competitions throughout the 2020/2021 season, the number of recreational players have also yielded positive results with court hire bookings up 108%.
Despite the interruption in March to both competitive and social play due to COVID-19 restrictions, the disruption was fortunately short lived due to the unique physical distancing nature of tennis. Following appropriately restricted guidelines dependent on the State Governments advice, tennis was one of the first sports to enjoy a well-considered safe return to play.
Tennis West CEO Michael Roberts says he believes that the 69.6% player retention rate, record number of players and teams; in addition to an overwhelming increase in the number of recreational court bookings – strongly suggests a healthy appetite for tennis as a sport of choice across a wide demographic of participants.
‘When play was disrupted in March due to COVID-19, there was a lot of uncertainty for what that would mean for the sport, our players and our clubs,’
‘But seeing an increase in team nominations paired with a strong player retention rate which stands at the highest across the entire country – not forgetting of course the 108% increase in recreational court hire bookings, and we’re obviously very pleased to see tennis as a sport of choice across the community,’
‘We continue to strive for the investment of accessible tennis facilities across the state and are dedicated to the delivery of the sport at a grassroots and participation level, at the same time as creating the opportunity for world class pathways for professional player development,’
‘And given the findings that tennis improves life expectancy by up to 9.7 years* and the overall impact of on the health and wellbeing of our players, especially in these uncertain times, then without a doubt seeing more players out on court is a win win result for both tennis and the wider community,’ Roberts said.
* The 2018 Mayo Clinic findings found tennis to increase life expectancy by 9.7 years compared to other sport and recreation activities. To find out more about the study read here.
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