Tennis, It’s Road to Diversity and How it Can Save it’s Popularity

Emma Radacanu, British number one and US Open champion. Born in canada and raised in England, parents from Romania and China. She defines a diverse United Kingdom, but how diverse is British tennis?

Tennis is regarded as an elitist sport dominated by white people. This is because, historically, it has been. Minority involvement in tennis has always been low as a result of this and the barriers facing people of colour remain persistent. The culture of tennis clubs in parts of the world isn’t welcoming to potential minority players and the cost of the sport, especially as it becomes more serious and competitive is also a challenge to those from lower income backgrounds.

Race scholar, Daniel Burdsey believes that a lack of black involvement in UK tennis: “I think it’s probably to do with a lack role models. young black people are probably thinking is there a place for me in this sport? Do I see people like me represented at the highest level, but also in the parks and clubs around the UK?”

There has been a marked improvement in this area. Six of the top 20 men and women in British tennis are from minority backgrounds and have been supported by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) for numerous years.

The LTA has begun to use its social channels to platform black tennis players, coaches and content creators. This is an improvement but it is only one month in a year, the promotion of inclusivity in tennis should be a year round discussion.

The LTA has began to address this by starting SERVES, an initiative to reach community’s where tennis isn’t as popular and is perceived as elitist. As a result of this and the Play Your Way campaign belief that tennis is a sport ‘for people like me’ rose by 14%. Furthermore, over 30,000 people take part in SERVES, 75% from a ‘lower socio-economic background’ and 50% from ‘ethnically diverse communities’ (all figures from the LTA).

The LTA funds group sessions for kids to get into tennis, for low costs it provides coaching, a racquet, balls and an LTA t-shirt for the participants. Initiatives like these encourage participation from lower income and minority backgrounds.

Schemes like this are all part of the LTA’s ‘Tennis Opened Up’ initiative. It is described as the associations vision for tennis in the UK between 2019 and 2023. It’s five year plan has ‘The Big Seven’: visibility, engagement, innovation, performance, investment, leadership and accessibility. The aim of the initiative is to make tennis relevant, enjoyable and welcoming to all walks of life and backgrounds.

Tennis needs initiates like this to counter its plummeting popularity. In an annual survey by Sport England, the the sports governing body for England, about the number of people who play tennis, it was found that as of 2021, roughly 635,700 people play tennis at least twice a month, considering any intensity and duration. This has fell by 253,600 since 2016.

The LTA has diversified its board and added new councillors in the aim of diversity. Time will tell if it’s initiatives can revive tennis and bring in a brand new generation of multi-cultural players from all walks of life.

Tennis is shaking off stereotypes of an elitist sport dominated by white people. The LTA has made steps to change its perception through initiatives and changing itself at the core. We are seeing a record number of tennis players of colour in the British top ten and increased numbers of participation amongst minority groups. There is still work to be done however, tennis participation overall has dropped and must be revived, targeting these groups is perfect to help it become a diverse and popular sport. The culture of many clubs is still unwelcoming to people of colour, demonstrated by the overwhelming amount of white farces at clubs and tournaments. The LTA and many tennis players hope it’s work towards diversity works and saves tennis.