The number of tennis participants (in the US) reached an all-time high in 1973-74 as the colorful characters of Connors, McEnroe and even the quiet genius of Bjorn Borg made for some interesting matchups. -- Click here to see that actual rise and fall of participation since 1960. http://www.tennisindustry.org/PDFs/ParticipationHistory.pdf
As tennis participation has fallen or plateaued since '99, the game of golf has skyrocketed-- and you can blame Tiger Woods for that in part. And it's not just mens golf either. While Tiger may not have motivated that many young girls to get into the game, in Europe the recently retired Annika Sorenstam did that for the Barbie set. South Korea routinely fills up the women's leader board with as many as 12-14 of the top 20 spots thanks to the stellar play 10-15 years ago of Se Ri Pak. And now golfs new Tigeress hails from Mexico-- Lorena Ochoa --so we can only expect many young Latinas south of the border asking for golf clubs now for their next birthday instead of last years Bratz Dolls.
So what does this have to do with GROWING THE GAME of tennis? Yeah, good question. We obviously could use some more exciting personalities that are in the top 5, or maybe top 3 that hail from the land of the currently unemployed. It's not like we aren't trying but at least we have Roddick 
marrying a bikini model and he often has hilarious post-match interviews. Andy even hosted Sat
urday Night Live a few years back---okay 2003, just after winning the US Open -- that alone probably got 1000 people out in the following week with their old wooden Jack Kramers. However, other than that, tennis needs some colorful and GREAT players. The Williams sisters, while great, have been standoff-ish and play less tournaments than virtually all others in the top 20 of the WTA.
marrying a bikini model and he often has hilarious post-match interviews. Andy even hosted Sat
urday Night Live a few years back---okay 2003, just after winning the US Open -- that alone probably got 1000 people out in the following week with their old wooden Jack Kramers. However, other than that, tennis needs some colorful and GREAT players. The Williams sisters, while great, have been standoff-ish and play less tournaments than virtually all others in the top 20 of the WTA.It wouldn't hurt to maybe get a new PR firm and come up with clever commercials going head to head against golf--- we compare quite favorably I think---- Tennis offers...
- better workout-- you can't use a pullcart or electric cart to get to your next shot in tennis
- faster workout 1.5 to 2 hours versus 4-5+ hours for golf
- tennis has singles or doubles, or mixed doubles for variety
- cheaper-- way cheaper and in this economy this cannot be stressed enough! Most racquets retail for $95-$140 (x2) versus clubs that can cost $250-1000+ and green fees of $25 to $100+ dollars each time you play
- hit 75-125 balls in golf for 18 holes versus the fun of clobbering 200-300 in an hour in tennis
One other fan friendly thing to do, as Billy Jean King has suggested, is that both the mens and women's tours play more combined events. Aside from the 4 majors, there are only 2-3 others that you can see men and women play a court away from each other. This value added benefit is appreciated by most tennis fans and could really also appeal to the next generation of players.
We have the superior product and unless Tiger Woods (or Obama) changes sports to tennis, we have some serious marketing to do to protect and grow this great game of ours.
link to the USTA http://www.usta.com/
link to the Tennis Industry Association http://www.tennisindustry.org/
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