Tennis on the rise
Tennis is on an upswing in B.C. Two years ago, one in four Canadians considered themselves an avid tennis fan. Most recently, one in three of us cops to loving the sport.
For the third year, Tennis Canada surveyed 1,400 Canadians and reveals the sport is gaining popularity, in large part because of the success of Ontario's right-handed heavyhitter Milos Raonic, now ranked at 25th in the world. The biggest growth spurt is happening in B.C. In 2011, 1.2 million Canadians, or four per cent of the population, played tennis more than twice a month in the summer and that number jumps to six per cent in B.C. Across the country, that's an increase of 23 per cent since 2008.
In November, Tennis Canada launched its national junior training centre in North Vancouver at the North Shore Winter Club and hired respected Israeli development coach Oded Jacob to run the program. Vancouver's Benjamin Sigouin, who trains at the Jericho Tennis Club, was selected to join the elite team.
At Davis Cup this weekend at UBC, fans will be exposed to some of the best players and the toughest competition in the world today. The event sold out in hours.
Tennis Canada's numbers are bang-on, says Ryan Clark, who leads the provincial sport organization. "There have been multiple third party companies that have done surveys on sport participation and tennis is consistently ranking extremely high as the top two and three sports played in the province. Not just kids, but kids through adults. It's been growing every single year for the last seven, eight years."
The City of Vancouver and the province's Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development both gave $100,000 to Tennis Canada to host the Davis Cup. In turn, Tennis Canada is donating equipment and money for coaches to MoreSports, a nonprofit organization on Vancouver's East Side.
