Tennis cash cut as playing numbers fall

A DROP of almost 25 per cent in the number of adults playing tennis has led to Sport England cutting their funding of the sport by £530,000.

The funding body cite “disappointing participation figures” and the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) has paid the price for seeing the average number of adults playing tennis at least once a week having declined from 487,500 in 2007/08 to 375,800, according to Sport England’s Active People survey.

Roger Draper, the LTA’s chief executive said: “We recognise that the Active People Survey results are disappointing and accept this reduction in funding. Like other sports, we face a huge challenge to increase the numbers playing tennis regularly in challenging economic times but participation is our top priority.”

Sport England does accept the LTA has made strong progress in talent development and the organisation can point to encouraging figures in relation to young players.

LTA figures show more than 50,000 juniors play six or more competitive matches a year, up from 8,400 in 2007, and around 100,000 juniors play mini tennis.

The British Judo Association (BJA) have also their funding cut by £353,000.