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China News Service, August 4 (by Zheng Yijia, Lin Wansi, Yan Shuxin, intern Li Yimeng) In the just-concluded women's singles final of the Paris Olympics, Chinese player Zheng Qinwen defeated her opponent, won the gold medal, and created history in Chinese tennis.

In the Olympic tennis mixed doubles final held in the early morning of the 3rd Beijing time, the Chinese pair Zhang Zhizhen/Wang Xinyu won the silver medal, also creating history for Chinese tennis in this event.

Can making history twice in one day help China's "tennis economy" take off?

"Tennis fever" has arrived early!

"The recent Paris Olympics has indeed ushered in a small wave of inquiries," said a staff member of a tennis training institution in Beijing. The training institution currently has 16 stores in Beijing, and another is preparing to open. China News Service saw that in the latest online promotion of the training institution, a photo of Zheng Qinwen advancing to the finals was posted, and the accompanying text was written in large font: Chinese tennis is celebrating the New Year!

In recent years, the number of tennis enthusiasts in China has been growing.

"It feels so good to hit the ball, as if all the pressure is released at that moment," said Li Ming, a new tennis enthusiast. In June this year, she was taken to a tennis trial class by a friend because she was not satisfied with her work, and she has been hooked ever since. At present, she has learned skills such as switching between forehand and backhand, finding the accurate hitting point, and switching between straight and diagonal lines.

Liu Wei from Henan Province started playing tennis when he was in college and has now joined the school's tennis team. "It's been more than a year since I started playing tennis. Tennis is really interesting. Before I started playing tennis, I played football, badminton, volleyball and other sports. After I started playing tennis, I just liked it and was willing to invest in it. Tennis has given me a lot."

According to the 2021 Global Tennis Report released by the International Tennis Federation, there are 87.18 million people participating in tennis in the world in 2021. China ranks second in the world in terms of the number of tennis players with 19.92 million people, second only to the United States, accounting for 22.9% of the world's total tennis population. At the same time, the number of tennis courts in China is also the second largest in the world, reaching 49,767. The number of tennis coaches in China ranks fifth in the world with 11,350.

Meituan data shows that since July this year, the number of searches for "tennis" has increased by more than 60% year-on-year. Consumers in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Guangzhou have the highest enthusiasm for searching for tennis, and consumers between the ages of 25 and 35 account for more than 50%; at the same time, tennis experience classes and tennis training quarterly packages are hot-selling on the platform, and the number of tennis-related group purchase orders has increased by 172% year-on-year.

Tennis court reservations are a snap

As the number of tennis players grows, the demand for courts is also rising. "It's summer now, and it's hard to book tennis courts indoors during the day and outdoors at night," a tennis enthusiast lamented.

China News Service Jingwei saw on the sports service application applet "Jiushi Sports" that Shanghai Xianxia Tennis Center has 8 standard outdoor courts and a central standard tennis court. Starting from 6 a.m. every day, there are 16 sessions available for reservation. The price for one hour of reservation ranges from 30 yuan to 220 yuan. According to statistics from China News Service Jingwei, from August 2 to 9, the 9 courts of the tennis center were basically fully booked from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., showing a gray "sold out" status.

Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Oriental Sports Center has three outdoor tennis courts, with 13 sessions available for reservation every day starting at 9 a.m. From the 2nd to the 9th, the three outdoor tennis courts were fully booked from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., and the sessions from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. were also basically "sold out."

Indoor tennis courts are even more popular. The Wilson Tennis Court in Xujiahui Sports Park has 3 indoor tennis courts and 4 outdoor tennis courts. From the 2nd to the 9th, all 3 indoor tennis courts were sold out from 8 am to 9 pm. On the 2nd, China News Service saw on the sports venue reservation platform "Yuoduoduo" that Beijing Star Tennis Club (Heshenghui Star Sports Center Store) was fully booked from 6 am to 10 pm from the 2nd to the 4th.

At the same time as the venues are "hard to grab", tennis courts are also adjusting their prices. Chaoyang Park Tennis Center, which is very popular among Beijing tennis enthusiasts, announced in April this year that the price of outdoor courts during prime time (after 16:00 on weekdays and all day on weekends and holidays) will increase from a minimum of 120 yuan per hour to 140 yuan, and the price of central courts during prime time will increase from a minimum of 320 yuan per hour to 360 yuan.

Even with the price increase, people are still flocking to the tennis courts. China News Service found in the Chaoyang Park Tennis Center's reservation app that the tennis center can currently make reservations until August 5. As of August 5, all time slots for outdoor courts after 19:00 every day were fully booked.

"There are a lot of people playing tennis in the summer now, so you have to grab the popular time slots at our venue. Reservations are usually opened three days in advance at 6 a.m." said a staff member at Chaoyang Park Tennis Center.

In addition to Chaoyang Park, tennis courts in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Hubei and other places have seen price increases this year. For example, the price of a tennis center in Zhuhai, Guangdong, has increased from 2,000 yuan per hour to 3,000 yuan; the annual pass price of a tennis court in Xiantao, Hubei, has increased from 1,580 yuan to 1,880 yuan.

Brands target tennis economy

The popularity of tennis has also boosted consumption. Guo Guo (pseudonym), who lives in Beijing, has been playing tennis for three years. This year, she signed up for 20 one-on-many tennis lessons at the club. She calculated for China News Service that there are 20 tennis lessons in total, each lasting two hours, and the annual tuition fee is more than 6,000 yuan, which is equivalent to more than 300 yuan per lesson. In terms of equipment, the main expenses are rackets, shoes, bags, strings, clothes, and hats. In the first year, she invested about 3,000 yuan.

Guoguo said that compared with other sports, there are fewer tennis courts and coaches in this field. Tennis courts in Beijing are relatively scattered, and sometimes you have to take a taxi back and forth, and transportation costs are also an expense.

"This is my third year playing tennis. I spend about 8,000 yuan on tennis every year on average, which is already very little. People who play tennis with me spend two to three thousand yuan per racket. Some people have four or five pairs of tennis shoes and at least two rackets. I only have two pairs of shoes and one pair of rackets," Guoguo introduced.

China News Service learned that the current tennis training fees usually include course fees and venue fees. According to a staff member of a tennis training institution in Beijing, the institution charges about 350 yuan per class, and the venue fee needs to be paid separately according to the normal reservation price, which is 198 yuan during popular time periods. Another institution said that their course fee is 450 yuan per class, which includes the venue fee.

Major brands are also frequently targeting the Chinese tennis market.

For example, in 2022, Adidas officially announced that it would become the official partner of the Chinese Tennis Association. A relevant person in charge of Adidas told China News Service that joining hands with the Chinese Tennis Association is one of the major measures for Adidas to look forward to the future and continue to be optimistic about the Chinese market. Athlete Wang Xinyu is also a contracted athlete of Adidas.

FILA, a subsidiary of Anta, announced the launch of the "Lighthouse Plan" to increase investment in sports such as tennis. FILA KIDS cooperates with professional children's tennis activities and events, including sponsoring the FILA KIDS Diamond Cup Youth Tennis Challenge and hosting the FILA KIDS Feifan Youth Tennis Challenge, to cover tennis players of different professional levels and age groups.

In addition, tennis skirts have also become a hot fashion item. In 2022, Miu Miu used polo shirts and tennis skirts to create a series of tennis-style looks on the runway. In the same year, Gucci and Adidas jointly launched a series of products such as tennis skirts. In 2023, Celine also incorporated elements of tennis skirts into its products.

According to Vipshop’s data on August 2, since July, the platform’s tennis skirt sales have increased by 91% year-on-year. Among those who buy tennis skirts, the growth in the number of purchases by those born after 1995 and 2000 is particularly prominent. The number of tennis skirts purchased by those born after 1995 increased by 179% year-on-year, and the number of tennis skirts purchased by those born after 2000 increased by 155% year-on-year, far exceeding other age groups. From a regional perspective, women in first-tier and new first-tier cities are the followers of the tennis skirt trend. The number of tennis skirts purchased by girls in Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chengdu, and Shanghai ranks among the top five in the country.

Sports brands such as LACOSTE, Wilson, Nike, FILA, lululemon, Adidas, etc. also started selling tennis skirts.

In addition to venues and equipment, the current "tennis fever" has even driven cultural tourism consumption. In Jingshan, Hubei, the "hometown of tennis", the tennis industry has been deeply explored since the 1980s. According to data, Jingshan currently has more than 300 standardized tennis courts and more than 100,000 tennis enthusiasts, making it the city with the highest venue facility ratio per 10,000 people and the highest tennis popularity rate in the country.

According to Xinhua News Agency, in 2017, Jingshan Tennis Town was approved by the State Sports General Administration and became one of the national sports and leisure town pilot projects. In recent years, it has hosted more than 10 domestic and international tennis events. In recent years, Jingshan has also attracted tourists through "tennis +". During the National Day last year, the city received a total of 1.29 million tourists and achieved a total tourism revenue of nearly 800 million yuan.

Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, told China Business Network that Zheng Qinwen's gold medal will have a positive impact on Chinese tennis in many aspects.

In the field of sports consumption, Zheng Qinwen's gold medal will significantly enhance the popularity and influence of tennis in China. Jiang Han said that this will drive the consumption growth of related sports goods and services. "Fans may be more willing to buy tennis equipment, watch tennis matches, participate in tennis tourism and other activities, which will bring considerable economic benefits to China's tennis industry. At the same time, with the popularity of tennis, related sports goods manufacturers and service providers will also usher in a broader development space." Jiang Han said.

In addition, Jiang Han believes that Zheng Qinwen's historic gold medal will greatly encourage young people and young players to join the sport of tennis, and will increase the number of tennis training institutions in China. In terms of venue construction, local governments and enterprises will also increase investment to further promote the development of tennis in China.

　(For more reporting clues, please contact the author Zheng Yijia: [email protected]) (China News Service APP)

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Editors: Chang Tao and Li Zhongyuan