Devoted to developing the growth of tennis at all levels from grassroots programs to the professional game, the USTA is the largest tennis organization in the world with 17 geographical sections, 750,000 individual members and 7,000 organizational members. The USTA is responsible for the management of the US Open, the world’s largest attended annual sporting event.
Tennis Night in America
In 2009, Tennis Night in America launched as one of the United States Tennis Association’s top national marketing initiatives specifically designed to increase grassroots tennis participation across the country.
The promotion underscored a “National Junior Tennis Registration Night” at over 750 locations on March 2, the date of the 2009 Showdown at Madison Square Garden, which also coincides with the start of the professional tennis season in North America.
Connecting grassroots tennis with professional tennis, Tennis Night in America was able to deliver the 2009 Showdown via closed circuit television to tennis clubs throughout the country, allowing one night in March to bring together tennis players of all ages and abilities, as they pay tribute to the game that they love so much.
Tennis Night in America returned in 2010, with continued growth in participation via Youth Registration events for several days across the country leading up to Monday, March 1, 2010 at the Showdown. CLICK HERE to read about specific Tennis Night in America events across the country or click on the logo to your left for more information!
UNITED STATES TENNIS ASSOCIATION PRESS RELEASE -- MARCH 3, 2009
"TENNIS NIGHT IN AMERICA" SERVES UP A WINNER FOR YOUTH REGISTRATION EFFORTS NATIONWIDE
National Effort in 50 States at700 Facilities Attracts Tens of Thousands of Kids, Parents For First-Ever National Youth Registration Night Events, Along with Viewing of BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup on HBO
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., March 3, 2009 – The USTA announced today that more than 700 tennis facilities, recreation departments and community centers across the U.S. took part in last night’s first-ever national youth registration initiative for spring and summer tennis programs—many in spite of unexpectedly heavy snow and winter weather—attracting tens of thousands of kids and parents to take part in the inaugural celebration of “Tennis Night in America.”
Tennis Night in America also included the ”BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup” at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The Showdown featured four of the top women’s players in the world—10-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams, two-time defending Wimbledon champion Venus Williams, reigning French Open champion Ana Ivanovic and 2008 year-end No. 1 Jelena Jankovic—competing in a single-elimination tournament for the inaugural Billie Jean King Cup before a live national TV audience on HBO. The tournament was captured by Serena Williams in a straight-set victory over her sister Venus.
National Youth Registration Night events were created to give young players and their families around the country a day all their own to sign up for spring and summer programming including team tennis play. Facilities and clubs across the country, in cooperation with HBO, also offered live viewing parties for the Showdown.
Dozens of other youth registration events throughout the Northeast and South, areas hit hard by severe winter weather yesterday, are being rescheduled for the near future.
“We were excited about the possibilities of what Tennis Night in America could be, but last night truly exceeded our expectations.” said Kurt Kamperman, Chief Executive, Community Tennis, USTA. “The enthusiasm we saw and heard from kids, parents and fans throughout our 17 sections was a wonderful testament to the resurgence our sport has been experiencing at every level.”
The initiatives of Tennis Night in America come in the midst of tremendous sustained growth for tennis throughout the decade.
U.S. participation in the sport has grown more than any other traditional sport since 2000; according to the annual research survey conducted for the Tennis Industry Association and the USTA by the Taylor Research Group, nearly 26.9 million people played tennis in 2008, the highest number of participants in 15 years. That marked a 7 percent increase over the prior year and an increase of more than 30 percent since 2000. In addition, the number of new tennis players increased by 3 percent last year to more than 5.9 million.
“We look forward to maintaining the momentum of this great event throughout the rest of the year,” said Kamperman, “as well as making TNIA an annual event for years to come.”
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The USTA is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the U.S. and the leader in promoting and developing the growth of tennis at every level -- from local communities to the highest level of the professional game. A not-for-profit organization with 725,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds in growing the game. It owns and operates the US Open, the highest attended annual sporting event in the world, and launched the Olympus US Open Series linking 10 summer tournaments to the US Open. In addition, it owns the 94 Pro Circuit events throughout the U.S., and selects the teams for the Davis Cup, Fed Cup, Olympic and Paralympic Games. The USTA philanthropic entity, USTA Serves, provides grants and scholarships and through tennis, helps underserved youth and people with disabilities to improve academics, build character and strive for excellence. For more information on the USTA, log on to usta.com.
For more information, contact:
Tom LaDue, USTA Community Tennis (ladue@usta.com, 914-697-2352)
Chris Brienza, Coyne PR (
cbrienza@coynepr.com, 212-938-0140)
UNITED STATES TENNIS ASSOCIATION PRESS RELEASE -- DECEMBER 11, 2008
US TENNIS PARTICIPATION CONTINUES TO INCREASE DRAMATICALLY
2008 USTA/Tennis Industry Association (TIA) study shows Highest number of players (26.9 million players) in 15 years; Total play occassions rise 13% to more than 600 million
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., December 11, 2008 – The USTA and TIA announced today that tennis participation throughout the United States continued its growth on every measurable level in 2008, with more players (nearly 26.9 million) taking to the court this year than at any time in the past 15 years, according to the annual research survey conducted for the Tennis Industry Association (TIA) and the USTA by the Taylor Research Group.
The TIA/USTA study showed total player participation in 2008 grew by more than 7% from the previous year (25.1 million), continuing a trend that has shown a nearly 12% increase over the fiveyear period beginning in 2003 (24 million). In addition, total play occasions increased by more than 13% to 603 million over the past year, up from 533 million in 2007 and a jump of close to 33% from five years ago (454 million). “Tennis is stronger and healthier than it has been in decades,” said Jane Brown Grimes, USTA President and Chairman of the Board. “It’s great to see that the collective efforts of the USTA and our industry partners over the past five years are producing such great results.”
“We’ve tried to make tennis as accessible as possible at the grassroots levels, which we’ll continue to do, by promoting initiatives to grow youth and adult participation in order to keep this momentum going,” said Kurt Kamperman, Chief Executive, Community Tennis, USTA.
“By almost every key metric and based on the trends the sport remains poised for growth in the coming years,” said Dave Haggerty, President of the Tennis Industry Association.
The TIA/USTA study also determined:
• The percentage of frequent players (i.e. those who played 21 times or more during the year) rose to 5.62 million, up 7% from 2007 (5.25 million) and an increase of more than 23% from 2003 (4.56 million).
• The sport is retaining the players it has, as the number of continuing players is up 9% to 15.1 million from 13.9 million last year. A continuing player is defined as one who has played for more than a year.
• The percentage of new players rose 3%, to 5.91 million.
Additionally tennis ball unit sales, another important barometer of play frequency, have increased more than 15% since 2003 and are up again by almost 3% through the third quarter of 2008. The TIA/USTA results compare favorably to other recent research released from industry organizations over the past 12 months. In the 2008 Sports and Fitness Participation Report
conducted by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA), results showed tennis had achieved growth of 30.6% in total participants from 2000 through 2007, making it the fastestgrowing traditional sport in the country over that time period.
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