Tennis, padel and pickleball in 2026: participation data, numbers and trends

Racquet sports are in an era of structural growth – but the picture is more complex than headline participation numbers suggest. Tennis remains the world’s dominant racquet sport by every measurable standard: more than 106 million players globally; a broadcasting footprint that reached close to two billion viewers across the 2024 Grand Slams; and an infrastructure base unmatched by any other racquet code.

Yet its primacy is being tested on two fronts: By padel, which has transformed from a Mediterranean lifestyle sport into a global commercial category in under a decade; and by pickleball, whose accessibility and social format have made it the fastest-growing sport in the US for three consecutive years. 

The three sports are not developing in isolation. Facility crossover, player migration and investment flows increasingly connect them. Across Europe, the majority of padel courts are built within or adjacent to tennis venues. In the US, the majority of professional pickleball players are former tennis players. And across Asia, an addressable audience in the hundreds of millions is being activated through state investment in tennis infrastructure in China, mobile-first court-booking platforms for padel, and a deep culture of table tennis and badminton that creates a natural pipeline for pickleball.

For brands, retailers and investors in sporting goods, the question is no longer which racquet sport is growing. It is how these three categories are simultaneously reshaping infrastructure demand, equipment supply, apparel spend and the commercial media landscape.

Tennis: Still life in one of world’s oldest racquet sports

Tennis is the traditional foundational pillar of the racquet sports industry, largely due to its longstanding history and high “awareness rates” around the world. Alongside badminton and table tennis, it is one of three racquet sports featured in the Olympics and has an annual year-round (and mid-week) roster of tournaments that achieve high viewing figures.

The 2024 Grand Slam tennis tournaments ( the Australian Open, Roland-Garros, The Championships, Wimbledon, and the US Open) achieved a combined viewership of almost 2 billion people in more than 200 countries. In 2025, the US Open became the most viewed tennis telecast of the year on ESPN. To put these numbers into context, the 2022 Fifa World Cup had an audience close to 5 billion across the tournament, with 1.5 billion watching the final. Cycling’s Tour de France 2025 had over 8.7 million TV viewers for its finale. In all analyses, tennis is the most watched racquet sport in the world.

Tennis is also the sport which brings male and female viewers together. The UK’s Sky Sports reports a viewership that’s 58 percent female, compared with an overall audience that’s 30 percent female. The Guardian also reports 2025 tennis viewing figures skewing towards women, with the BBC’s live coverage of Wimbledon and Queen’s attracting a 58 percent female audience. In the 2024 season, the WTA Tour (Women’s Tennis Association) alone achieved a record global audience of over one billion views; a 10 percent increase on 2023. Figures for 2025 are not yet available, but Q1 2025 already saw the WTA Tour double year-on-year social media engagement.

Interestingly for brands, WTA fans show greater engagement with sponsor brands, with 59 percent saying that they take notice of who sponsors the sports events they watch, versus 47 percent for sports fans in general.

Tennis then certainly takes the crown in terms of size of audience. But does this viewership translate into participation? Is tennis participation also booming in 2026? And how does the number of people playing tennis compare to relative newcomers padel and pickleball?

Asia home to most of the world’s tennis players

As of 2024, tennis boasts a total global playing population reaching 106 million (a rise of 21.6m or 25.6 percent from 2019), according to the ITF’s (International Tennis Federation) Global Tennis Report 2024. Tennis is played in 199 nations by participants at some level.

More recent figures from USTA (United States Tennis Association) reaffirm this increase, with participation in the US alone increasing by 1.6 million in 2025 to reach a new high of 27.3 million in the US. This is a 54 percent increase since 2019, with America adding nearly 10 million players over six consecutive years of growth. USTA has a goal of 35 million players by 2035.

Region	Total Players (2024)	Global Share	Regional Context
Asia	35,348,633	33.4%	Largest playing population globally; 24.3% world’s courts; China accounts for 22.9% world’s tennis players.
Europe	29,573,962	27.9%	Mature market; high concentration of tennis coaches (60%) and clubs (31.9%).
North America	28,812,000	27.2%	Leading in infrastructure; 41.8% of global clubs and 36.7% of courts.
South America	8,846,758	8.3%	Participation focused in “heritage” countries such as Argentina, Brazil and Chile.
Oceania	1,849,835	1.7%	Highest regional female tennis coaching population at 32.5%.
Africa	892,032	0.8%	-
Central Am. & Caribbean	664,899	0.6%	-

Source: Global Tennis Report 2024, ITF

The rise of Asia as the dominant tennis-playing region is particularly noteworthy. One country is leading the growth of tennis, both in Asia and worldwide: China. In 2024, tennis participation in China exceeded 25 million (21% increase on 2021). China has constructed more than 4,000 tennis courts in 4 years, according to the country’s General Administration of Sport. That’s 8 percent of global court facilities. This reflects a state-level commitment to sports infrastructure that has given China nearly a quarter share of global tennis players.

As a sport which still has a market for untapped growth, the future for tennis could look bright. However, there are questions over the credibility of the figures from the ITF, particularly those concerning the mature markets in North America and Europe. Racquet sports industry blog RacketBusiness.com cites static ball deliveries to the US between 2019-2024 which would contradict such a large growth. It also notes that for certain National Federations, “registered players” now include padel and pickleball players (and/or players under-10, who were not previously included) giving the illusion that tennis participation is increasing.

Tennis participation in Europe concentrated in 5 nations

In its most recent tri-annual report of 2022, Tennis Europe gives a detailed picture of tennis participation in Europe. Participation is once again up, although Tennis Europe presents a more modest figure of 4.6 percent growth across Europe.

Although there are players in every European nation, the sport is concentrated in a few countries. Just five nations – France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, and Spain – account for 75 percent of all European tennis players. France is home to one in every 5 tennis participants.

The more recent 2024 figures from ITF actually put Great Britain ahead of Germany and France, in terms of total tennis players.

Country	Players (2022)	Trend	Context
France	4.7 mill players	Steady participation	Nearly 10,000 indoor courts
Germany	3.5 million players	Steady participation	More than one in five European clubs is located in Germany
GB	3.3 million	New high	Up 9.09% in 3 years; highest participation figures in decade
Italy	3.15 million	Stable	Club members growing
Spain	3.1 million	Steady participation	100,000 new players 2018-2022
Switzerland	620,000	Stable participation	7.2% of population plays tennis; participation levels unchanged for last decade
Turkey	419,000	Boom period	Players up 90.45% in 3 years
Czech Republic	426,100 players	Consistent growth	Leading performance tennis; only 4 EU nations have more courts, despite its smaller size
Greece	280,000	Boom period	Up 140% in 3 years; being led by professional player success
Norway	90,000 players	Consistent growth	Up 12.5% in 3 years; consistently showing upward growth for last 15 years
Ireland	80,000	Steady participation	Club membership up 34% in 3 years.
Denmark	85,000	Consistent growth	Up 6.92% in 3 years; young pros report “explosive progress”
Georgia	1,700 players	Stable	Number of players returned to 2009 level

 Source: 2022 European Tennis Report, Tennis Europe

Tennis: A gender equal sport?

Tennis often declares itself to be the most gender-equal sport, in terms of participation. However, whilst tennis boasts a large number of female players (and one which is growing), there is still an imbalance.

The Global Tennis Report 2024 lists the gender balance at 40.3 percent female players. This is actually a dip from 47 percent in 2019, and described as a “blip” by the ITF, who attribute the fall to more accurate data collection in the latest report and an overestimation of female players in 2019.

It is difficult to readily find a per-country breakdown of gender participation in tennis. The UK’s LTA lists a gender ratio of 42 percent adult female in the UK in 2024. This represents a 19 percent increase in female participation. In youth tennis, the ratio is higher, with 49 percent of 4-15 year old tennis players female.

As we move into 2026 and beyond, tennis may actually have lost its crown as “the most gender equal sport” to one of the newcomers to the racquet sports scene: padel.

Padel: The Architectural and Social Disruptor

Padel is undeniably the world’s fastest-growing racquet sport in 2026. Often described as a strategic hybrid of tennis and squash, played in doubles on an enclosed, smaller court where the walls are active components of the game, padel has moved from a Mediterranean phenomenon to a global commercial powerhouse.

Padel growing at over 15%

The International Padel Federation (FIP) reported over 35 million active amateur players globally at the close of 2025. The speed of infrastructure deployment is impressive: In the 18 months leading into 2025, over 14,000 padel courts were added globally, representing an annual increase of 15.2 percent.

Europe remains the dominant hub, hosting 61 percent of padel players and 66.1 percent of global courts.

However, the growth story of 2026 looks set to be concentrated in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, according to FIP, with Playtomic and PwC’s 2025 Global Padel Report describing it as a “still emerging” but “long-term opportunity.” In Asia, the Middle East accounts for 72 percent of padel facilities – with most courts in Saudi Arabia, where the sport receives government encouragement – but that is down from 89 percent, showing padel participation is becoming more widespread across Asia.

Indonesia has emerged as a major growth driver with an estimated 350 courts and 17 percent of the continent’s enthusiasts.

Region	Share of global padel player population	Context
Europe	61.3%	Most clubs and accommodation facilities worldwide (62.3%)
South America	19%	21.5% of clubs and accomodation
Central & North America	7.7%	US in a “transition phase” from initial growth; Florida has most courts in US
Asia	6.8%	Saudi Arabia has 1,130 courts
Africa	4.9%	Number of clubs up by 5.1% in 18 months; Egypt has 1,500 courts
Oceania	0.3%	Moving from “embryonic phase” into growth

 Source: FIP World Padel Report 2025, FIP

Padel growth being driven by Europe

Looking at the number of courts per country reveals how Eurocentric padel participation is. Of the top fifteen countries by number of courts, eight are European nations.

Italy, Spain and Sweden’s padel boom were previous drivers of European growth. In 2023 research by Monitor Deloitte and Playtomic, both Spain and Sweden had more padel players than tennis players. However the growth in padel participation is now being driven by countries with more moderate growth rates: France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Denmark. Smaller countries to “keep an eye on,” in the words of FIP, include Switzerland, Greece, Austria, Lithuania, Cyprus, and Ireland.

France, Germany and Great Britain are all experiencing a padel boom, according to the FIP.

The latest 2025 figures from LTA Padel (Lawn Tennis Association Padel) show 860,000 padel players in the UK. This is more than double the 2024 participation levels, making padel one of fastest growing sports in the UK. The awareness of padel among British adults reached 57 percent of the population (approximately 31m), and over 10 million Britons expressed a desire to try padel – a rise of 3 million since the end of 2024.

Country	Number of Courts (2025)	Market Phase	Notable Trends
Spain	17,300	Maturity	Most courts worldwide. Often cited as second most popular sport after football
Italy	10,220	Consolidation	Consolidating post-pandemic boom
Argentina	7,000	Heritage	Most courts in S.America. Accounts for over 40% of the S.American fan base
Sweden	4,220	Mature	Market correction phase
France	4,000	Rapid Growth	Highest number of courts installed in 2025 (+1,850)
UK	1,000+	Rapid Growth	Average annual growth +130% in recent period
Germany	875+	Growing	50% increase in courts and clubs
United States	700+	Initial Expansion	Florida holds 41% of courts; Texas and California follow

 Source: FIP World Padel Report 2025, FIP

Padel player base still evolving

In 2025, padel had a global playerbase that was 40 percent female (equaling tennis’ most recent 40% female participation). But there is a strong regional variation.

In Spain, women represented around 36 percent of registered padel players in 2025. In the UK, less than one third (only 30 percent) of players are women. America has around 45 percent female participation rate.

Padel has eyes on the Olympics

The professional landscape of padel has been transformed by the launch and expansion of the Premier Padel tour, founded by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) in partnership with the FIP. By 2026, the circuit has expanded to 25 major tournaments worldwide, categorized into Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze tiers. The introduction of a new format FIP Promises Continental Tours in 2026 for youth talent further underscores the sport’s maturation into a structured professional ecosystem.

The ultimate mission of FIP is to achieve inclusion in the Olympic Games. Padel debuted at the Krakow European Games in 2023. In March 2026, padel was confirmed as a medal sport at the European Games Istanbul 2027 and it will also feature at the Asian Games in 2026.

Olympic inclusion is based on multiple criteria, including governance by an international sports federation, compliance with World Anti-Doping Code and a sport which is widely practiced around the world. The decision on the 2032 sports program is due to be made by the IOC this year. Could padel feature at Brisbane 2032? If so, would that lead to a pre-Olympic participation boost?

Could padel signal the end of club membership model?

It is not just the sport itself which is “modern” in comparison to tennis’ roughly 800 year-old history. The entire infrastructure around padel is modern; including courts and booking systems. The economic model of padel is increasingly driven by “pay-to-play” digital platforms, which have systematically replaced traditional membership structures seen in tennis clubs.

Playtomic, the Madrid-based court booking and club management platform, is the dominant player in this space globally. As of September 2025, the platform had transacted over €346 million – a 51 percent year-on-year increase – generating €29 million in net revenue, up 38 percent year-on-year, across a network of more than 4.7 million players and 6,000 clubs. Market investment platform Crowdcube reports Playtomic has raised over €110 million from investors including GP Bullhound, FJ Labs and Bonsai.

The commercial argument for digitization is compelling. According to Playtomic’s own data, clubs operating on digital tools outperform non-digital competitors by a factor of 3 to 5 in both revenue and player retention. In mature markets, open matches account for 80 to 90 percent of all bookings, and this format carries a higher average ticket value than classes or leagues.

By Playtomic’s assessment, padel also reports a 92 percent return rate after a first session – a retention metric that strengthens the business case for pay-to-play models over traditional fixed membership.

Pickleball: From niche to powerhouse

Pickleball has transitioned from a niche North American activity to a global movement. Frequently described as the most accessible racquet sport, its small court size and low barrier to entry have made it a mainstream powerhouse, particularly in the United States and China.

24 million pickleball players in the US alone

Pickleball participation levels are harder to track compared to tennis and padel, as they are often measured differently and are only just beginning to be tracked. England is the only European market with granular data, courtesy of Pickleball England and the Sport England Active Lives survey.

Global pickleball reach is estimated between 80 million and 120 million “curious” players,  according to the blog The Pickle Ball Clinic, who aggregate defensible data from the United States, Canada, Australia, England, Spain, India, and the Philippines.

There were approximately 24.3 million active participants in the US alone in 2025, according to the SFIA (Sports & Fitness Industry Association). In the US, participation grew by 45.8 percent year-over-year in the 2023–2024 period, and 22.8 percent in 2024-2025, giving Pickleball its third consecutive year as the fastest-growing sport in America. This is up an extraordinary 171.8 percent over the past three years. Pickleball is now edging in on tennis as the most popular racquet sport in the US.

The Asian Frontier and Professionalization

Asia holds promise for pickleball’s next expansion phase. Research from UPA Asia (United Pickleball Association Asia) across 12 territories indicates that roughly 812 million people in Asia have played pickleball at least once in 2025; a reach facilitated by the region’s strong culture of table-tennis and badminton. Around 282 million play pickleball each month. This represents a 60 percent year-on-year growth, according to UPA Asia. India has the highest number of frequent pickleball players (178m), followed by China (60m).

Global pickleball ranking system DUPR also confirms India has the fastest growing pickleball scene. By capturing data from players across 80 countries, DUPR shows Vietnam has the highest percentage of population with pickleball experience (over 37%). Malaysia and the Philippines are also included in the top 10 number of users by country, in a list that includes Canada, Australia and the UK.

Who is playing pickleball?

Unlike tennis, pickleball in America has a more unbalanced gender demographic, with the sport still more popular with men. 2024 figures from SFIA show a 58.6 percent male player-base. The 65-plus age group was traditionally the strongest player base, but the average age of a pickleball player in America is dropping. Those aged 25–34 now represent the biggest segment of pickleball players, with just over 30 percent of the playerbase aged 18–44.

If we look closer at how often individuals play pickleball in the US – with “casual player” defined as 1–7 times per year and “core player” defined as 8+ times per year – then the 65-plus age-range becomes the largest segment of players, with 26.3 percent. In fact, players over 45 make up the majority of core pickleball players in the US (56.5%).

Demographic Segment (US)	Share of Total Players	Context
Age 6–12	11.2%	6–12 largest youth segment; boys outweigh girls in terms of player numbers
Age 13–17	9.1%
Age 18–24	14.2%	18–44 Make up nearly half of “casual” players (48.9%)
Age 25–34	16.0%
Age 35–44	12.3%
Age 45–54	9.4%	Balanced between core and casual players
Age 55–64	12.7%	Traditionally the strongest base; average age now dropping
Age 65+	15.1%	Largest segment of core players (8+ times / year)
Male / Female	58.6% / 41.4%	Significant male majority

On gender, the story in England is strikingly different from the US. The Sport England Active Lives survey of Nov. 2023–2024 reported a 55.3 percent female versus 44.6 percent male split – making pickleball the only racquet sport in England where women outnumber men.

By age, England’s profile currently sits at the opposite end of the spectrum from the US: The 55+ demographic dominates the registered player base (nearly 50%), with most players in the 55–64 age bracket. However, the 25–44 age bracket is noteworthy (comprising nearly 30% of the playing population).

Figures from Pickleball England – now recognised by Sport England as the National Governing Body – confirm that the average age of new members is reducing, but was still 53 in 2024. Pickleball England has set an ambitious target of one million players by 2030.

Across Europe, the structural data is thin. The 2025 European Pickleball Championships in Rome drew 30 European nations. Participating nations included Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and others. This indicates organised competitive infrastructure exists in most major markets, but no federation currently publishes consolidated participation or demographic data for the continent.

As in America, UPA Asia confirms that pickleball is a sport “skewing younger,” with those aged between 18 and 35 most aware of pickleball and comprising the majority group of players.

Diversify to survive? Racquet sports crossover

The crossover between tennis and padel in terms of facilities is clear, particularly in the newer, booming markets. In France and Italy, 70 percent of padel courts are located in tennis venues, according to Britain’s tennis federation, the LTA, which integrated padel in 2020. 21 Tennis Europe member nations currently govern both tennis and padel. In the UK, many padel courts require membership of a tennis or sports club.

In mature padel markets such as Spain and Sweden, there is less of a crossover between tennis and padel facilities. In Spain, only an estimated 25 percent of padel courts are at tennis venues. But with facilities and skills often overlapping, is there also a crossover in participation between those playing tennis and those playing padel?

Not necessarily.

Tennis to padel

One snapshot from May 2025 from Ed Shanaphy of BeyondTheBaselines.com racquet and club management consultancy typifies the situation: “Padel players at the club rarely play tennis. And the club, the tennis members rarely play padel. Padel is drawing a distinct demographic – typically younger and more affluent – which differs markedly from our tennis base. Many of our tennis members appear disengaged with padel so far –  a trend possibly influenced by age or routine loyalty.”

According to UPA Asia, only 25 percent of those who follow tennis also follow pickleball. However, the crossover is higher for padel, reaching 67 percent.

Tennis	Pickleball
Overarm serve	Underarm serve
Raw power important	Controlled strokes and placements important
Shared scoring system
Typically longer game duration	Typically shorter game duration
Often played individually	Typically doubles; more of a social aspect
Initial access often difficult	Easy to learn; hard to master
Cheaper court fees, compared to padel	More expensive court fees, per hour
Courts often require membership	Courts often operate pay-and-play basis; often booked via app.

Tennis to pickleball

When it comes to participation, pickleball and tennis show more of a crossover compared with the link between tennis and padel players. When playing other racquet sports, US-tennis players are likely to play pickleball (39%), with only 16 percent playing padel, according to a 2024 survey of players by racquet sports festival RacquetX and marketing agency LT. Table tennis appears above pickleball, with a 50 percent crossover with tennis. The crossover works both ways. 67 percent of pickleball players also play tennis, whereas only 8 percent reported to also play padel.

There is also a strong intention for tennis players to crossover into other racquet sports. 43 percent of players who plan to play tennis at the same rate or more in the coming year plan to  diversify the racquet sports they play regularly. Women are also more likely than men  to want to diversify their play, with 48 percent expressing this intention (versus 36% for men).

Asia shows a similar pipeline between racquet sports, although less pronounced: Around  28 percent of pickleball players have racket sports experience, transitioning from tennis, badminton, table tennis and squash, according to UPA Asia.

The pickleball pro tour is comprised of 90 percent former tennis players. Due to the smaller court size and lower-impact movements associated with the game, pickleball is often viewed as a sport for older tennis players to switch to.

	Popularity of racquet sport by generation
	Gen Z (18-27)	Millennial (28-43)	Gen X (44-59)	Boomer (60+)
Tennis	77%	86%	74%	77%
Pickleball	48%	47%	49%	42%
Padel	30%	18%	15%	3%

Source: Who’s on the Court? Racquet X and LT

The Racquet Sports State of Play: 2026 and Beyond

The ten-year evolution of racquet sports is a narrative of resilience and rapid adaptation. In the pre-pandemic era (2016–2019), tennis and badminton maintained stable, predictable growth patterns, while padel was in its “initial phase” outside of Spain. The pandemic (2020–2022) acted as a primary disruptor, forcing a shift toward individual and outdoor sports.

Evolution Phase	Key Characteristic	Dominant Sport Trend
Pre-Pandemic (2016-19)	Club-centric membership	Stability in tennis and badminton.
Pandemic (2020-22)	Outdoor safety surge	Explosion in tennis and pickleball.
Post-Pandemic (2023-25)	Digital “Pay-to-Play”	Rapid padel expansion in US/Asia.
Current Era (2026)	AI & Smart Infrastructure	Full tech integration; Olympic focus for squash/padel.

In the post-pandemic period (2023–2026), the multi-sport racquet game facility has become the industry standard. Tennis clubs have integrated pickleball and padel courts to maximize revenue per square foot, recognizing that pickleball can fit multiple courts on a single tennis court.

Editor’s note

Tennis is not one global story – it is several regional ones moving at different speeds. Asia is the growth engine, with China’s state-backed infrastructure program adding a quarter of the world’s players in under a decade. North America is deepening a participation base that has added nearly 10 million players since 2019, with a clear institutional target of 35 million by 2035.

Europe, by contrast, is a mature market consolidating around five dominant nations, with meaningful secondary growth concentrated in markets like Turkey, Greece and Ireland. The direction of travel is consistent across all three: upward. Where it gets interesting for brands and investors is in reading which regional trajectories are infrastructure-led, which are culturally driven – and where those two forces are beginning to converge.

SGI Europe will be following this space closely – with further reports and on-the-ground coverage at key industry moments, including the World Padel Summit in Barcelona (May 26–28, 2026).