Tennis Around the World: A Look at Where Tennis is Most Popular
Where is tennis the most popular? Is it in Asia or Africa? Where are the most Grand Slam tournaments held? The answers to these questions may surprise you, but they’re all important in understanding how this sport has spread around the world over the last century. With the help of Statista, we can dive into some of these trends and discover which countries play tennis the most and which ones have produced the greatest number of Grand Slam champions.
Europe
In Europe, tennis has been a popular sport
for generations. For example, Wimbledon became popular in 1877 after the All
England Lawn Tennis Club was founded in 1868. The club's original members came
from a tradition of lawn tennis that stretches back to medieval times. In
addition, France has hosted its own version of Wimbledon since 1891 with Roland
Garros. The French Open is also one of four Grand Slams and hosts many
international players as well as some of the top female players in the world
like Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep. It takes place every year over two weeks
in late May through early June. It is held on clay courts and has a long
history dating back to 1891. According to Fédération Franciosi de Tennis
(FFT), there are 2,200 members out of a total 3.5 million people who play
tennis regularly in France.
In North America, tennis is most popular in
Canada, where there are multiple professional tournaments and a national
tournament. The United States also has plenty of tennis players and hosts a
major national tournament. In Latin America, Argentina and Brazil have some of
the best players in the world; however, more people in these countries play
soccer than tennis. In South Africa, the sport is traditionally played by
British colonists, but it was introduced to many different racial groups when
apartheid ended in 1994. Japan’s top player is Kei Nishikori, who won two US
Open titles and one Australian Open title. He also became the first Asian man
to rank in the ATP's Top 10 rankings. Spain is home to Rafael Nadal, who has
been ranked number 1 for ten straight years and holds 14 Grand Slam titles.
France is home to Gael Moonfuls and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Both men are highly
ranked on tour as well as being French Davis Cup team members with an
impressive five Grand Slam singles victories between them. Germany's top player
currently resides at 11th on the ATP rankings: Philipp Kohl Schreiber. As for
Russia, Mikhail Youzhny (ranked 38th) and Svetlana Kuznetsova (ranked 4th)
represent the country. As for Italy, Francesca Schiavone (ranked 3rd)
represents their highest-ranking player. Finally, where tennis is most popular
in Asia? According to the International Tennis Federation there are
approximately 24 million participants playing regularly around the continent .
Tennis is a popular sport in Asia.
Countries like China, Japan and India have been known to produce some of the
world's best players. The Asian Games includes tennis as one of its sports, and
was first held in 1951. In 2009, there were over 1,000 male and female
participants from 46 countries.
A lot of professional tournaments take
place in Asia too. For example the China Open takes place every year with men's
singles final taking place on a different surface each year (hard court in
2008). There are also ATP tournaments such as Shanghai Masters 1000 on hard
court which took place last month.
The Indian Wells Masters tournament takes
place every year in California but has an Indian Wells-Final that features top
Indian talent only. There are also many ATP 250 tournaments that happen around
this region such as Thailand Open 500 which happened last week and saw Rafael
Nadal beat Andy Murray to win his second title after two years' absence. These
events bring in top tennis professionals from all over the world and give
talented amateurs more opportunities to play against them.
There are three Grand Slams that happen in
Asia - Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon - and each of them offer
something unique for fans as well as players. The Australian Open is open to
both amateurs and professionals while the other two slams have stricter
qualification requirements. For example, if you're not ranked in the top 50
then you cannot enter the French Open, while Wimbledon requires players to be a
British citizen or number one resident in Great Britain when they turn 18 or be
qualified by right through their performance at another event.
In these slams, players need to compete across five sets while they only need four sets in most other tournaments outside of Asia (with exception being Davis Cup where it depends on whether it's semifinals or not). And as we mentioned before, what sets these slams apart is their popularity among fans.
South America
In order to promote tennis as a sport for
children, both Chile and Brazil have created junior tournaments for kids that
range from under-9s up to under-18s. There's also a National Championship
Tournament for Under-15s each year that features some of the best players from
all over South America. The women's circuit in South America has grown so much
in recent years that there are now seven countries hosting a tour event, with Argentina
hosting four events, Ecuador three and Colombia two. The most successful player
on the women's circuit in Argentina is Maria Irigoyen who has won three singles
titles including this year's Copa Colsanitas final against Paula Ormaechea in
straight sets 6-4 6-2. Another promising youngster coming through the ranks is
Gabriela Benitez, who was runner up in Buenos Aires last month to Argentina's
top ranked player Daniela Segue. On the men's side, Nicolas Jerry is
considered one of the hottest prospects in Argentinean tennis. Jerry, who will
be 17 next week, had his first ATP challenger victory just last month and he is
tipped to become the first Argentinean player since Guillermo Vilas to break
into world's top 50 rankings.
The Argentinian Open held in Buenos Aires
every January is considered one of the toughest clay court tournaments in world
due to its hot climate and unforgiving surface. Clay courts are rare outside
Europe but they seem perfectly suited for where we live; whether it be doubles
or singles matches you can always find someone with which to play on any given
day!
In Africa, tennis is most popular in South Africa and Egypt. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) estimates that there are about 20 million players in Africa, which account for about 30% of all African tennis players worldwide. In South Africa, tennis has been a popular sport since it was introduced by British colonists in the 1800s. Although the country doesn't have much of a professional tour, they do have some very successful homegrown players like Kevin Anderson and Wesley Moodie. Egypt also has an estimated 1 million people playing tennis and two indoor courts. There are plenty of opportunities to play on outdoor courts as well, with over 2,000 courts across the country. Tennis is played by many children in schools. Other African countries where tennis has become a popular sport include Algeria, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco and Nigeria. There's no doubt that where tennis is most popular varies depending on what continent you're talking about. In Africa, tennis is most popular in South Africa and Egypt. In Asia, where tennis is most popular can be attributed to Japan - where it has always been one of the top sports - China, India and Indonesia. Australia had 575 thousand registered members in 2016 and New Zealand had 64 thousand members. Europe boasts major tournaments including Wimbledon and Roland Garros along with other smaller tournaments throughout different regions; this helps make where tennis is most popular in Europe dependent on region rather than nationality or ethnicity.
The sport of tennis has been popular in
Australia, New Zealand, and Japan for many years. In fact, these three
countries have produced some of the best tennis players in history. The
Australian Open, also known as 'the Grand Slam of Asia', is one of the four
major annual tournaments on the professional tour. The event was first held in
1905 when 10 English-speaking players were invited to play a friendly game with
only two women participating. It wasn't until 1924 that women were allowed to
compete and not until 1975 that they could challenge for championships. In
1976, Margaret Court won the tournament which was then called The Championships
by beating Evonne Goolagong Cawley in the final round 6–4, 6–1. While she never
won another singles title at the Australian Open, Court did win 18 doubles
titles there. Billie Jean King who won 12 major singles titles including six US
Opens and five Wimbledon titles said that Court was the greatest female player
who ever lived. Another legendary player from this region is Rod Laver who
retired with 11 grand slam titles including seven consecutive Wimbledon titles
from 1962-1969. Laver's achievement of winning all four grand slams
(Australian, French, Wimbledon, U.S.) within a single calendar year (1962) has
not been matched since.
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