Tennis boom in Italy: +23% of club members and record number of members

With 4 Italian players among the top 25 in the world, record television ratings and an unprecedented succession of themed tournaments and events, tennis launches its challenge to football, basketball and volleyball. And there was an immediate boom in fans to the point that many of the tennis schools affiliated with the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation (Fitp) are overbooked.

At a national level in the last 12 months, club members have increased by 23.2% while members of single-sport clubs have achieved a growth of 22.6%. This was revealed by a survey conducted by Golee, a digital platform for the management of sports clubs and clubs, which compared the same realities present in the 2024/2025 and 2025/2026 seasons.

Only in Lombardy, the leading region in Italy in terms of number of affiliates, members and competitions, 100% of the clubs in which it is possible to make a comparison between the two seasons recorded a median growth of around 21%. An exploit, that of tennis, which does not, however, only concern young people: in the same period the 'athlete demographics' grew by 26.5% in the 11-18 year age group (+34% in the 15-18 year age group), by 26.9% in the 18-34 year age group, by 24.7% for those aged 35 and over with a +34.8% among those over 65 years of age.

Furthermore, the female component is far from negligible, with girls aged between 11 and 18 growing by 23.3%, nor that of teachers, increased by 22.2%. As of 31 December 2024, it is no coincidence that Fitp had almost 900 thousand members for tennis alone (+36% compared to 2023).