Participation
Anyone can play tennis – no matter their age, background or gender – our sport is for everyone.
Whether they’re picking up a racket for the first time, or continuing a lifelong passion for the game, we’re here to provide opportunities for people to play and enjoy the benefits of tennis all year around.
Through our expansive network of clubs, parks, leisure centres, schools and community venues, as well as incredible coaches, officials and volunteers, we’re taking tennis to people and communities across Britain.
From our tennis competitions to growing the disability game – check out some of the many products, programmes and initiatives we offer to give more people the chance to play.
Launched after the London 2012 Paralympic Games, our Open Court programme has grown to become one of the largest disability programmes of its kind, maximising opportunities for disabled people to play tennis right across Britain. The continued development of the programme, funded by Sport England, forms part of our wider commitment to inclusion, and its mission to open up tennis across Britain and make it relevant, accessible, welcoming and enjoyable.
Under the award-winning programme, disability tennis sessions take place at over 600 LTA Open Court venues, providing the opportunity for thousands of disabled people to play close to where they live, as well as having the opportunity to compete in LTA regional and national disability competitions.
We are using the platform of this sector leading programme as a foundation for change in our new Disability Plan, Open for All, launched in December 2022.
The LTA SERVES Programme is our leading sport for development programme, for 8–18-year-olds from a diversity of backgrounds, which takes tennis into the heart of local communities to people who may have never picked up a racket or thought tennis was for them.
The programme reaches young people in underserved communities to help them get active and experience the physical, mental and social benefits of the sport, while empowering them to develop skills on and off the court.
There are many LTA SERVES programmes across Great Britain with tennis being delivered in a variety of venues including community centres, youth clubs, faith venues, housing associations and others.
We offer support, training and equipment to our venues, Activators and players to give them everything they need to enjoy tennis in their communities.
Kids are the future of our sport and inspiring the next generation to pick up a racket is crucial to the long-term growth of tennis.
We know that playing tennis from a young age, has a major impact on whether they are likely to continue playing in the future, so we need to attract and engage kids and parents across Great Britain.
LTA Youth is an innovative junior tennis programme for kids aged 4-18, created to help more children enjoy the physical, mental and social benefits of the sport – whatever their age, gender, ability, disability or background.
Created by experts and based on industry insights, LTA Youth is fun, inclusive and competitive tennis, with specially designed games and exercises to help kids develop as both players and people.
There are several different areas to the LTA Youth programme:
- LTA Youth Start: A six-week introductory course for young kids who have never played the game before. Packed with games and fun exercises, the course is designed to develop confidence and give players the skills to progress to the full programme.
- LTA Youth: Delivered by LTA Accredited Coaches, the junior programme brings together fun games and dynamic training in five development stages so kids can continue to progress as their skills improve.
- LTA Youth Compete: Giving kids an introduction to tennis competitions with their friends at local clubs and venues. Team Challenge, Matchplay and Local Tour formats are all focused around having fun, improving skills and taking the first steps to playing more competitively.
- LTA Youth schools: Designed by teachers for teachers, LTA Youth Schools offers free resources to ensure schools have everything they need to teach tennis as part of their curriculum. Shortlisted for three awards at the Education Resources Awards 2022, the resources are a range of detailed and inclusive PE lesson plans from Key Stage 1 through to Key Stage 3, GCSE PE assessment drills, and modified versions of the game meaning tennis is accessible and engaging for all young people.?We also provide every school with a £250 voucher to purchase tennis equipment or link with a local LTA Accredited Coach.
- LTA Youth Go!: A community-based programme developed for Girlguiding and Scouts leaders, leisure centre staff and community venues to facilitate engaging tennis experiences for kids of all ages.
- LTA Youth Prime Video Girls: Our new ‘girl only’ programme, created in partnership with Prime Video, to help more girls enjoy the benefits of playing and staying tennis. Based on the LTA Youth programme, sessions are designed to provide the ‘right’ environment for girls of all ages to get involved.
- LTA Youth Tennis at Home: We want to give kids the opportunity to play tennis however and wherever they choose. We’ve created a bank of resources, videos and games to help kids develop their skills and engage in tennis from the comfort of their own home.
The programme is supported by three LTA Youth ambassadors in the professional games – Emma Raducanu, Paul Jubb and Lucy Shuker.
We believe that sport can be one of the most powerful platforms for promoting gender equality and empowering women and girls. Despite being in an era where we're seeing women's sport having a greater reach, more progress is still needed in order to ensure it's receiving a fair share of visibility, including in tennis.
Our 'She Rallies' ambition sets out to help tennis lead the way towards becoming a truly gender balanced sport.
Supported by the necessary governance and structures needed to make progress happen, the core of the ambition is focused around three pillars that together will help ensure tennis becomes even more accessible, welcoming and enjoyable for women and girls:
- Participation: Targeted activity to drive increased participation in tennis among women and girls, with a focus on key age groups
- Workforce: Provide the support and opportunities needed for more women to join the tennis workforce, and supporting the whole workforce to better understand and cater for female needs
- Visibility: Inspiring women and girls through increased and better female representation, driving greater visibility of women’s tennis reflective of its status as a leading women’s sport
Competitions are at the heart of our work to grow tennis across Great Britain, and we run and support tournaments for all ages and abilities.
Junior competitions
At the junior level we have introduced the LTA Youth Compete events as an introduction for kids to play more competitively, before they work their way across the different tours and competitions from a local to county, regional and national level. There are several individual events such as the County Championships and Play Your Way to Wimbledon, as well as a variety of team competitions, including Schools competitions, County Cup and National League.
Discover more about junior tennis competitions
Adult competitions
For adults, we also support a wide range of individual and team competitions across Great Britain – including the County & District Leagues, County Cup and British Tour.
In 2019, we acquired Local Tennis Leagues as a part of our work to grow tennis participation in parks. There are over 200 mixed singles and doubles leagues in Britain, that provide fun, friendly and competitive tennis for players in their local area.
Explore more adult competitions
Further competitions
There are a vast range of seniors and disability competitions taking place every week across the country as part of our ambition to open tennis up to players of all ages and backgrounds.
Find out more about seniors and disability competitions
Performance competitions
In 2022 we developed a new enhanced Performance Competitions Calendar to better support each age and stage of the player pathway – from juniors to the pros.
In the last year, we doubled the number of International ITF World Tennis Tour events and held twice the number of international events for juniors, compared to 2019. This has led to an 165% increase in the number of British players competing in main draws of professional competitions compared to 2019.
World Tennis Number
The ITF World Tennis Number is a rating system for all tennis players across the world which aims to make it easier for everyone who plays tennis in Britain to organise and play against opponents of a similar standard.
The ITF has partnered with national and regional tennis associations around the world including the LTA to create this global player standard for both singles and doubles which gives people a real-time skill level rating and enables players to track their tennis progress based on their actual performance. The scheme aims to encourage people of all ages, genders and abilities to play more tennis, with a focus on recreational players. Britain, through our work, was a trailblazer as the first country to implement self-submission into their WTN system – meaning players can upload results themselves, rather than having to rely on their tennis clubs or authorities to do so on their behalf.
In May 2019, we announced our intention to integrate British Padel into the organisation’s day-to-day operations and in November 2020 was confirmed as the National Governing Body for this form of tennis.?
This was a strategic move to benefit both the growth of tennis and padel in the UK, and formed part of our five-year plan to grow the game by offering formats that are easier to play.??
Padel's an innovative form of tennis that’s fun, easy to learn and extremely sociable. One of the fastest growing sports in the world, padel is played on an enclosed court about a third the size of a tennis court, groups of mixed ages and abilities can play together. The rules are broadly the same as tennis, although you serve underhand and the walls are used as part of the game with the ball allowed to bounce off them.
The emergence of Padel has led to new opportunities for tennis and squash clubs, leisure facilities, players, coaches, and entrepreneurs throughout the UK to diversify their offering.
The popularity of the sport continues to grow. Working with venues and operators, more than 200 courts have been delivered with plans in place for 400 by 2023.
To learn how to get started in padel, to find your nearest court, to explore padel competitions or to get up-to-date on the GB Padel teams, visit our padel hub.
Safeguarding continues to be at the very heart of everything we do - our number one priority is always to make sure everyone person involved in tennis is kept safe from harm.
Tennis has led the way for safeguarding in sport in recent years, and over this period we’ve transformed our approach, ensuring we are using best-in-class procedures, systems and processes to safeguard the well-being of all.
In 2022 we were announced as the winner of the ‘Outstanding Contribution to Safeguarding’ category at the inaugural Sacpa Annual Safeguarding Awards - the only sport’s governing body recognised across the awards.