ORLANDO, FLORIDA, Nov. 14, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- USTA Florida today released its 2026 State of Florida Tennis Report, the most complete picture the organization has ever produced of who plays tennis in Florida, where they play, and what it will take to welcome the millions more who want to.
“This report is the single best source of information on Florida Tennis, where it’s growing, where it’s lagging, and where we have opportunities to grow,” said Chuck Gill, USTA Florida President. “Every tennis facility and provider in the state should be using this information to double down on their investments in tennis. It’s not about growing our programs, it’s about growing the whole tennis landscape to strengthen our communities.”
The report finds Florida tennis growing faster than the nation. About 1.95 million Floridians played tennis in 2025, up from 1.2 million in 2019, and the state’s participation rate reached 9.1%, above the national rate of 8.8%. In the latest year alone, Florida’s rate rose 1.1 points against 0.5 points nationally.
The demand behind that growth is nearly as large as the game itself. An estimated 1.83 million Floridians say they are interested in playing but have not started, 92 for every 100 current players. Among young Floridians, those who want to play (390,924) now outnumber those who already do (373,378).
Public courts carry far more than their share of play
The report also documents a growing access challenge. Florida has 18,293 tennis courts on record, but only 3,786 of them (21%) are open to the public, one for every 6,175 residents. Those public courts host 43% of sanctioned tournament participants and 38% of USTA league participants, and seven of the ten busiest USTA league hubs in the state are public facilities. Placer.ai foot-traffic data shows roughly twice as many site visits per public court as per private court.
Supply is uneven. Five counties, Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, Lee, and Collier, hold 43% of all courts, 18 counties have fewer than 10, Liberty County has none on record, and four counties, Baker, Dixie, Liberty, and Madison, which are home to 73,355 residents have no public courts at all. Rural counties have one public court for every 9,194 residents, compared with one for every 6,051 in the rest of the state.
With 4.87 million more residents projected by 2050, simply holding today’s ratio of public courts to population would take 248 more public courts by 2030 and 789 by 2050. Pressure is sharpest in Florida’s 25 mid-size counties, which hold 31% of residents, are projected to absorb 43% of the state’s growth, and have the lowest public share of courts at 17%.
Tennis as an economic and health asset
For the first time, the report puts a figure on what Florida players spend. Floridians spent an estimated $583.0 million on tennis in 2025, on court and membership fees, equipment, coaching, and events. Separately, sanctioned tournaments and events generated $145.9 million in total economic impact in 2023, according to a Tourism Economics study commissioned by USTA Florida. The two figures measure different things and are not additive.
Health is the most common reason players give for playing. In the 2026 USTA National League Survey, 57% of Florida respondents said they play for exercise and health, ahead of every other reason. The Copenhagen City Heart Study, an observational study of 8,577 adults, associated tennis with up to 9.7 more years of life expectancy than a sedentary lifestyle, the largest association among the sports it measured.
The most data-rich edition to date
The 2026 report is a product of USTA Florida’s Business Insights and Analytics initiative, one of the organization’s three Big Bold Moves. It is the first USTA Florida report to measure play happening outside the USTA system, counting 41,814 participants in community and club leagues, and the first to use anonymized foot-traffic data and player spending estimates. It also includes a first look at the state’s 128 recorded tennis academies and its 60 college tennis programs.
Together, the report’s eight sections cover participation and growth, courts and facilities, coaching, academies, markets, and college tennis across all 67 counties, with county-level data throughout.
The full report is available on the USTA Florida Resources Page at ustaflorida.com/resource/2026-state-of-florida-tennis-report.
View Report Here
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About USTA Florida: Established in 1949, USTA Florida is a not-for-profit section of the United States Tennis Association and the official governing body of tennis in Florida. With over 60 staff members operating from its executive office in Orlando and more than 700 volunteers throughout the state, USTA Florida is driving the future of the sport through three Big Bold Moves: investing in best-in-class public facilities and providers, leveraging data and insights to fuel smarter growth, and empowering volunteer leaders at every level. Together, these efforts advance the organization's mission to promote and develop tennis for all in Florida. To learn more, visit www.USTAFlorida.com.
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