Tennis is booming, but there are fewer courts to handle increased demand
"We know if we don’t get there before 8 a.m. on a Saturday, you’re going to be hard-pressed to get a court the entire day."
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When spring arrives, flowering trees in Front Range parks erupt with white and pink blossoms, a gorgeous sight that can offer a semblance of consolation for frustrated weekend tennis players enduring long waits for free courts. They emerge in the spring, too.
Tennis is booming in Colorado and across the country, but tennis officials say the number of available public courts isn’t keeping up with growing demand.
“When the season kicks off, which is now, the courts are really stressed for use,” said Susan Bolton, an avid tennis player from Arvada. “We know if we don’t get there before 8 a.m. on a Saturday, you’re going to be hard-pressed to get a court the entire day.”
Tennis participation in the U.S. hit a record 25.7 million players in 2024, an increase of 1.9 million over 2023; more than eight million new players have come to the sport since 2019, an increase of 45%, according to the U.S. Tennis Association.
The organization’s local affiliate, USTA Colorado, doesn’t have figures on the total number of Colorado tennis players, but it does know that adult leagues have doubled since 2020, adult tournament participation has almost tripled, and junior tournament play has increased by 65%.
Bolton said her club, the North Jeffco Tennis Club, went from 300 members to more than 600 over the past four years.
“We have (tournament) matches as far south as Highlands Ranch, as far north as Longmont, we go to Evergreen, we go to Aurora sometimes, and Thornton,” said Bolton, 55. “All of those communities have lost courts due to funding issues — repairs aren’t being made, courts being converted to pickleball courts — and there’s just a huge increase of players every year.”
Two dozen courts closed in Boulder in the past two years. When the Colorado Athletic Club at Inverness closed in 2023, eight indoor courts and 12 outdoor courts were lost. Those setbacks and others have had a “really huge impact,” according to Fritz Garger, executive director of USTA Colorado.
“You had some facilities choose to take out tennis courts in order to accommodate pickleball,” Garger said. “With our numbers growing, we need as many courts as we can get.”
Like many outdoor activities, tennis saw an upward spike in participation coming out of the pandemic. It hasn’t slowed down.
“People wanted to get out and do things, and tennis was a perfect sport for that because you had social distancing,” Garger said. “People wanted to get together, they wanted to socialize, they wanted the physical fitness that our sport can provide. That sparked an influx of play, and we’ve retained it.”
That has made it harder to find open tennis courts, which typically are available only on a first-come, first-served basis, except for league play and tournaments, which receive permits to reserve courts.
“Unless you’re already in the fold of playing league tennis and knowing when tennis courts are available — or not available — I see lots of players just kind of show up and can’t get a court,” Bolton said.
The USTA has responded by significantly increasing the amount of grant money it provides municipalities and communities for building new courts and refurbishing old ones. This year, it is handing out $10 million, up from $1.2 million last year.
“USTA national sees what we’re seeing, that infrastructure is a major issue,” Garger said. “We need more courts to accommodate the demand.”
Four courts in Wheat Ridge’s Panorama Park will be replaced this summer, aided by a $140,000 USTA grant. The existing courts date back to the 1950s, according to Brandon Altenburg, grant and special project administrator for Wheat Ridge Parks & Recreation. The total cost of that project, which includes rebuilding an adjacent basketball court, is $1.2 million. Demolition will begin soon, with the hope that the new courts will be ready for play in October.
But, as Bolton points out, that project does nothing to increase the inventory of tennis courts in the metro area. It’s a replacement project.
“The Panorama project is really great,” Bolton said, “but we are losing courts and we’re not getting new courts.”
USTA argues that increasing the inventory of tennis courts isn’t merely a matter of self-interest for its members, saying tennis is a lifetime sport that promotes wellness, thereby resulting in healthier communities.
The USTA says multiple studies have found tennis to be the healthiest sport. An oft-cited study in Copenhagen found that tennis added 9.7 years to life expectancy when compared to the lives of sedentary individuals, ahead of badminton (6.2 years), soccer (4.7), and cycling (3.7). Tennis has been found to decrease the risk of heart disease by up to 50% while promoting mental acuity and mental health through social interaction.
“We would love to see municipalities and private entities realize how valuable this sport is, and how important it is for individuals and communities to provide it for them so they can benefit from it,” Garger said. “We are reaching out for tennis players to be more vocal. We’re reaching out to municipalities and decision makers to impress upon them that our sport is growing significantly and that our sport is something they ought to embrace. Let’s put those things together and create more courts for the public.”
He also argues that tennis is a relatively inexpensive fitness activity, at least for casual players.
“If you want to be an elite player in any sport, you’re going to be paying,” Garger acknowledged. “But honestly, you can get racquet, balls and shoes, go out and play on a public court and not spend a lot of money. You don’t worry about a membership fee. You don’t have greens fees that are exorbitant. Tennis has a lot of attributes that lend themselves to communities saying, ‘Let’s get on the bandwagon, because we want to be part of a wellness crusade for our community and tennis is an answer.'”
Garger and Kristy Harris, community development director for USTA Colorado, say tennis and pickleball have little in common. They doubt the explosive growth of pickleball is drawing new people into tennis.
Harris said tennis can learn from pickleball, though.
“I think pickleball has pushed us to want to promote and talk about our sport and get in front of decision-makers, things we haven’t done (before) or felt we needed to do,” Harris said. “It’s going to benefit everybody.”
