Serving Up Excellence: The Top U.S. States for Tennis

Article By Ian Clampett

Last Updated: Mar 14^th, 2024

Tennis is a sport that is becoming increasingly popular across the world, and the United States is no exception. Viewership figures for the sport's major tournaments remain strong, while participation in the U.S. is seeing a year-on-year increase.

It's an activity that combines athleticism, skill, and passion, yet is suitable for people of all ages and backgrounds. One of the factors attributed to tennis’ worldwide growth is sports betting, and with more and more betting markets opening across the nation, interest in this way of enjoying the sport is only going to grow.

With one of the world’s premiere international tennis tournaments, the U.S. Open, kicking off in New York City on August 28th, the research team at Gambling.com set out to discover the best U.S. states for tennis. They did this by analyzing four different data points to create a Final Tennis Score for each state. Three of these were per capita/per million residents calculations - measuring the number of courts & clubs, competitive tournaments, and training camps & programs in every state. The other data point measured the affordability of renting a tennis court, by working out the average cost of a one-hour rental at the weekend, and inverting the calculation, so a lower cost is better.

Delaware Crowned Best State For Tennis Enthusiasts

After all the different factors are measured, Delaware is the Best U.S. State For Tennis. Living up perfectly to its nickname, The First State achieved a Final Tennis Score of 84 out of 100. This included a perfect score in the training camps & program category, while also performing strongly across the other three analyzed sections.

The runner-up is also on the East coast, as Massachusetts takes #2. With a final score of 80, the Bay State ranks highly in all but one of the study’s four categories - with the cost of a one-hour weekend court rental more expensive than over half of the other states. 

Not far behind in #3 is Florida, with a Final Tennis Score of 79 out of 100. The Sunshine state has the 2nd cheapest court rental in the entire country, while also rating in the top half of all the other data points.

South Carolina (78) is again close behind in #4, with particularly strong showings when it comes to the number of facilities and training available. In joint #5 are New Jersey & Illinois, which both have a final score of 73.

Which States Need To Work On Their Rally Technique?

At the other end of the rankings, Oregon is the Worst U.S. State For Tennis. With a Final Tennis Score of only 14 out of 100, The Beaver State has the lowest amount of training programs & camps available in the country, while also placing near the bottom in terms of courts & clubs available (both per capita).

Alaska is the 2nd worst. The Last Frontier ranks bottom in three of the four analyzed categories (facilities, tournaments & training), but its relatively low rental cost for the courts it does contain, prevents it from propping up the nationwide table - resulting in a final score of 18. 

Not far behind is Maine, the 3rd worst state for tennis in the country. The Pine Tree State has the study’s lowest scores in the court rental cost and training programs sections, despite having a more than respectable score in terms of overall facilities available.

West Virginia and Washington (both 21) are tied as the 4th worst state for the popular sport.

Methodology

• Gambling.com ranked the Best States For Tennis by measuring these four data points in each state: Number Of Courts & Clubs (per capita): Taken from Tennis Point.
  • Average Cost Of 1 Hour Weekend Court Rental): Taken from the largest city in each state (by population) - from Numbeo. Inverted calculation.
  • Number Of Competitive Tournaments (per capita): Between 07/24 and end of August/summer - taken from USTA.
  • Number Of Training Programs & Camps  (per capita): Between 07/24 and end of August/summer - taken from USTA.
• All four data points were measured out of 100 using the PERCENTRANK formula, and an average was found to create a ‘Final Tennis Score’. States were ranked from highest to lowest final score.

Per capita calculations were completed using population statistics from World Population Review - all data was collected and correct on 07/24/2023.

Updated by

Ian Clampett

Last Updated:   Mar 14^th, 2024

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