This post focuses on participation in U.S. high school boys tennis programs. It is based on data from the National Federation of State High School Associations (http://www.nfhs.org).
In 1969-70 there were 6,221 boys high school programs in the U.S. Interest in the sport rose precipitously as a result of the Billie Jean King vs. Bobby Riggs “Battle of the Sexes” match and the subsequent tennis boom. By 1979-80 there were 9,912 high school programs.
The tennis bust happened more quickly than the boom and that downturn was reflected in the data. By 1983-84 the number of boys programs had fallen to 8,644.
From that low point, the number of programs gradually increased. During the 2009-10 season there was a record number of boys teams – 9,916 teams. This was 4 more programs than the previous peak in 1979-1980.
In 2014-2015 there were 9,725 programs.
As might be expected, the trend for the number of participants is similar to the number of programs. In 1969-70 there were 83,717 participants. Between then and 1977-78 the number of participants more than doubled to a peak of 170,653 participants.
By the 1983-84 season, participation had plummeted to 118,539. From that point, the number increased gradually to 162,755 in 2009-2010.
In 2014-25 there were 157,240 participants.
Factors that have caused interest in the sport to rise and fall are the overall popularity of tennis and competition from other sports such as lacrosse and cross country. In some schools Title IX may have reduced court time for boys or caused schools to move boys tennis to a different season. Other factors impacting the number of participants are the size of school budgets, the number of local feeder programs, and the number of qualified coaches in the school districts.
Between 1999-00 and 2014-15 the number of programs increased at an annualized rate of 0.08% while the number of participants rose by 0.8%.
The average number of participants per program ranged from 13.5 to 19.2 players.
High school boys tennis is a small, but important part of the U.S. tennis scene. The number of participants is likely to grow at a rate similar to or slightly less than the growth in the U.S. population.