Racquet sports are one of the fastest-growing sport categories in China, and tennis is taking the lead. China’s tennis market has seen continued growth, bolstered by both celebrity and fashion. While the “Li Na effect” first sparked national interest in the 2010s, Zheng Qinwen’s recent triumphs have injected new momentum. This growth is proving more durable than earlier waves. Driven by surging participation and heightened tournament visibility, growth is further secured by state support. Today, China’s tennis landscape is characterized by its player base, spectator market, and expansive commercial ecosystem. Furthermore, tennis in China has now extended beyond the court. It is rapidly transforming into a high-growth lifestyle and consumption powerhouse. As a representation of the “old money fashion” trend, #TennisCore is taking over China’s fashion scene.
Racquet sports are moving from niche participation to mainstream lifestyle adoption in China
A unique convergence of forces makes this moment strategically critical:
Structural momentum is in place. Government initiatives are embedding racquet sports into schools and investing in facilities, ensuring a steady pipeline of new players. Youth participation in a certain sport is a good sign for the longevity of that sport. China’s education system is undergoing a structural shift in how sports are viewed.
Cultural attention is rising. The rise of athletes like Zheng Qinwen has reignited national enthusiasm for tennis, while global icons like Wimbledon fuel an aspirational lifestyle narrative. Tennis sits at the intersection of sport, identity, and social signaling, exactly the territory where premium brands thrive.
Market expansion is accelerating. Tennis is the fastest-growing racquet sport in China, with broad participation at the base, and high-margin growth segments at the top.
China’s tennis market is going through a period of double digit growth
As both a spectator and participation sport, China’s tennis market has reached unprecedented scale and maturity. In 2025, the domestic market reached RMB 43.4 billion. Projections estimate that it will expand to RMB 68.4 billion by 2030, representing a strong compound annual growth rate of 9.5%. Meanwhile, China now has more than 25 million active tennis players, with women accounting for 47% of participants. This player base makes China the world’s second-largest tennis population and home to nearly one-fifth of all global players. Such scale provides a strong foundation for sustained commercial expansion.
Simultaneously, the broader commercial ecosystem is expanding far beyond the court itself. From September to November 2025, the “China swing” of nine tour-level events drove more than RMB 16 billion in related spending, including tourism and accommodation. Moreover, China’s tennis equipment and apparel market reached 2.9 billion USD by 2025. Such a figure accounts for about 19.8% of global tennis product sales. Chinese tennis consumers are spending heavily on the premium lifestyle and identity of the sport. Additionally, these metrics prove that Chinese tennis has become a durable market, as the sport continues to deepen its cultural influence nationwide.
China as the next most important audience for Grand Slam viewership
Professional tennis is structured around a clear tournament hierarchy. At the top are the four Grand Slams, namely the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Directly below are the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and the men’s Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tours. As China’s tennis market expands, audience engagement is surging alongside physical participation. Although the Grand Slams remain overseas events, their domestic popularity is rapidly accelerating. Meanwhile, China is proactively hosting some of Asia’s most important tennis tournaments. This dual presence provides local audiences access to both global and live elite competition.
Grand Slams play a major role in shaping tennis interest in China because strong performances by Chinese players on these stages often trigger waves of attention at home. Notably, Li Na’s 2011 French Open title was a landmark moment for the sport’s domestic rise. The WTA said a record 116 million viewers in China watched that final and described it as the start of a women’s tennis boom in the country. Recently, Zheng Qinwen’s spectacular Australian Open run and Paris Olympic gold further revitalized the country’s public interest in tennis. These milestone achievements firmly established her as one of China’s most influential female athletic icons. Furthermore, Tennis Australia even claimed that China alone accounted for nearly 40% of the Australian Open’s total broadcast audience in January 2025. Consequently, this widespread public fascination secures China’s position as a vital growth engine for the global tennis market.
National support is securing China’s long-term tennis passion
While stardom drives initial tennis fever, national policy now introduces structural mechanisms to sustain this passion long-term. In August 2025, China’s sports authorities released a national plan to build a stronger tennis ecosystem. The plan set concrete targets, including more than 10 Chinese players in the world’s top 100 and more than 100 internationally competitive professionals and coaches. It also called for youth training centers, broader club development, and a stronger “tournament economy” tied to tourism, local consumption, and tennis-themed products. This shows that policymakers now treat tennis as a driver of talent development and urban consumption.
This direction is also visible in the recovery of major tennis events in China. In women’s tennis, broader WTA coverage returned to China in 2024 through a CCTV-5 agreement, following the Peng Shuai controversy. In 2025, a further Tencent deal helped expand distribution, while WTA video views in China rose 71% year on year to 125 million. Offline demand remained strong as well. At the 2025 China Open in Beijing, ticket sales exceeded RMB 88 million, on-site spending reached RMB 33.56 million, and merchandise sales surpassed RMB 10 million. Together, these figures suggest that tennis is becoming a more structured and investable sport sector in China, supported not only by fan enthusiasm but also by distribution channels and event economics.
Policy drivers driving China’s tennis market growth
National government efforts
“The “National Fitness Plan (2021–2025)” sets a target for the sports industry to surpass RMB 5 trillion by 2025, with a focus on improving participation rates in sports such as tennis and other racquet sports. These policies directly benefit equipment suppliers, venue operators, and training academies.
Local government efforts
Leading cities such as Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing have launched projects to expand public tennis courts, refurbish existing badminton halls, and support new Padel clubs. These investments not only expand participation but also reduce barriers to entry for new players.
Educational reforms
The Ministry of Education has integrated racquet sports into compulsory and elective PE programs. Schools, especially in urban areas, have been encouraged to introduce tennis and badminton as core activities, aligning with the “quality education” agenda that emphasizes balanced development of both academics and sports.
Industrial ecosystem
Beyond public funding, social and private capital has entered aggressively. Developers, private schools, and sports clubs are investing in facilities and academies, laying the foundation for a sustainable sports economy.
Tennis’s social media presence is helping turn it into a lifestyle category in China
As tennis gains visibility in China, its influence is spreading beyond the court and into everyday consumption. In 2025, this shift became especially visible through the China Open’s official partnership with Rednote, which expanded engagement through player interviews, social content, and trending tournament discussions. This matters because it shows that tennis in China is no longer seen only as a traditional competitive sport. It is also being packaged and consumed as a lifestyle experience on one of the country’s most influential platforms.
This social media expansion also helps explain the rise of TennisCore in China. TennisCore refers to a fashion aesthetic built around classic tennis silhouettes such as pleated skirts, polos, knitwear, visors, and clean white sneakers, often combined with quiet luxury, old-money styling, and polished athleisure. In China, this aesthetic fits naturally with Rednote’s fashion, beauty, and lifestyle-driven content environment, where consumers engage as much with styling and identity as with sport itself.
As of June 6th, 2026, the hashtag “网球穿搭” (“TennisCore ”) had generated 800 million views and 3.644 million discussions on RedNote, while “网球女孩” (“tennis girl”) had reached 1.59 billion views and 7.413 million discussions. Together, these figures show that tennis in China is gaining traction as a highly visible lifestyle and fashion language.
TennisCore is a gateway for foreign brands to China
The top brands associated with “tennis” posts on Douyin and Xiaohongshu posts between June 2025 and May 2026 are as follows:
- Lululemon
- Wilson
- Fila
- Yonex
- Nike
- Alo
- Head
- Adidas
What is unique about this list is it is entirely foreign brands in an era when domestic brands are gaining ground in both sports and fashion. The premium, old money image of tennis in China is correlated with more premium fashion brands. Meanwhile, many multi-sport brands are targeting China’s tennis consumers with specialized tennis lines.
Outlook of the tennis market in China
- China’s tennis market has reached real scale, with strong growth in participation, industry value, and long-term commercial potential.
- The sport now extends far beyond court activity, as consumers also spend on events, travel, apparel, and premium lifestyle products.
- Tennis stars such as Li Na and Zheng Qinwen have played a critical role in driving national attention and strengthening the sport’s cultural relevance.
- Policy support is making this momentum more durable through stronger training systems, city-level development, and tournament-led consumption.
- Social media and TennisCore are pushing tennis into fashion and everyday lifestyle, expanding the market far beyond active players.
Author: Allison Malmsten, edited by Ming Yii Lai, with additional research by Maeve
