In recent years, Chinese players have been achieving impressive results in international tennis competitions, garnering unprecedented attention for the sport. There is a surge in demand for tennis courts, a significant increase in sales of tennis-related products, and tennis topics consistently topping the charts, with an unprecedented enthusiasm for the sport among the public.

As night falls, the National Tennis Center (South Area), located to the west of Beijing's Olympic Forest Park, enters its busiest time of the day. The tennis courts are brightly lit as tennis enthusiasts, after a day of busy work, run, swing, and smash balls here, sweating and releasing stress and fatigue. As the largest tennis venue in Beijing, the National Tennis Center has been the most popular tennis venue in the city since its completion in 2008.

Tennis enthusiast Zhang Changyue, with 10 years of experience, says, "It's hard to book a court, especially during the rush hour after work. I've had to grab a slot several times on the mini-program." Zhang told reporters that tennis combines elements such as speed, strength, and endurance, which are very beneficial to physical and mental health. "No matter how busy I am with work or study, I make sure to find time to play two or three matches a week."

"In recent years, more and more people are getting involved in tennis. Many tennis clubs and communities have emerged, making it convenient for everyone to arrange games and improve their skills together. The atmosphere is great," Zhang said. Joining a tennis club for games, with seven or eight people each time, lasting two to three hours, and accompanied by a coach, costs about 200 yuan per person on average. This way, individuals don't have to worry too much; they just need to show up with their rackets. Additionally, various tennis communities can be used to arrange games, with an average cost of 80 to 100 yuan per game, which is quite cost-effective.

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Lan Ying, the manager of the National Tennis Center (South Area), told reporters that since 2022, the center has been developing an "environment + content" operation model, relying on high-quality sports venues to create rich offline activities, build its own event IPs, and fully mobilize the enthusiasm of tennis enthusiasts to attract more people to join the sport.

"We host our own graded tennis events, such as Chao Chaoyang Night Splendor, Mini Party Tournament, and Clay Carnival, creating an operation model with daily activities and weekly competitions. Through these events, we aim to improve everyone's tennis skills and enhance customer loyalty. Our featured events have received the honor of 'Beijing Sports Tourism Boutique Project of 2024.' In addition, to solve the problem of limited court space, we have developed various sports scenarios such as tennis walls, AI training, and sports rehabilitation methods, providing tennis enthusiasts with more professional and convenient training conditions," Lan Ying said.

In the view of Ni Wei, Secretary-General of the Beijing Tennis Association, the development of tennis has shown a clear upward trend in recent years. On one hand, the level of competitive tennis is continuously improving, with Chinese players making outstanding performances in international major events and Grand Slam tournaments. On the other hand, public tennis is thriving, with the quantity and quality of public tennis events continuously improving. Moreover, the number of tennis venues is increasing year by year, and the community of tennis coaches, referees, event operation organizations, training institutions, and the industrial chain related to tennis are gradually extending, expanding the mass base of tennis.

According to the latest data from the China Tennis Association, there are currently about 30 million tennis enthusiasts in China, and they are becoming younger. Tianyancha data shows that as of August 2024, there are nearly 5,000 tennis-related enterprises in China, and since 2023, the number of registered enterprises has begun to increase year-on-year.

The "tennis fever" has also driven the hot sale of tennis equipment. Data from JD Consumer and Industry Development Research Institute shows that since Zheng Qinwen won the Olympic championship, the transaction volume of tennis clothing has increased by 246% year-on-year, and the transaction volume of tennis bags, tennis shock absorbers, tennis shoes, tennis grip tape, and tennis rackets has increased by more than 40% year-on-year. On the DeWu APP, in August of this year, the sales of tennis shoes, tennis rackets, and tennis clothing and skirt sets increased by 300% to 400% month-on-month, and the order volume of Zheng Qinwen's same model tennis racket increased nearly tenfold.

Bai Yufei, a professor at Beijing Sport University, believes that China's tennis movement has accumulated a consumer group with a certain consumption capacity. Compared with the saturated tennis market in developed countries, China's tennis economy has the momentum for continuous growth and is expected to become an emerging point of growth in sports consumption.It is important to recognize that tennis in China is still in its early stages of growth and faces numerous "growing pains." There is still a gap between China and Western tennis powerhouses in terms of infrastructure, training systems, and commercial operations.

How can we seize this "tennis boom" to make the sport flourish in China? Bai Yufei suggests that, at the competitive level, it is necessary to improve the youth tennis training system, reform and innovate the training and management models for athletes, actively align with international mainstream training methods, and encourage Chinese players to gain experience in international competitions. Furthermore, it is essential to strengthen the construction of professional event systems, enhance the quality and scale of domestic competitions, attract top global players to compete in China, and create more opportunities for Chinese athletes to compete against top players. At the popularization level, relevant departments should intensify the promotion of tennis, increase the construction of community tennis venues, and lower the barriers for public participation. By offering tennis training courses and incorporating tennis into school physical education curricula, they can attract more young people to participate. Additionally, a wide range of public tennis events should be organized to encourage ordinary enthusiasts to get involved, stimulate the public's interest in tennis, and promote the spread of tennis culture.