11 Reasons Why Tennis Is The Best Sport

Sports are not just a lot of fun, it’s important for our health and social life. Every sport is good in their way, but it’s still a constant debate about which sport is the best.

Which sport is the best is obviously, very subjective, but I truly believe that Tennis is the best sport. Here are 11 reasons why I think tennis is the no.1 sport in the world right now.


1. A Sport For All Ages

If you go to your local tennis club, you will immediately notice that the age differences between all players are huge. It’s not unusual to see 60+-year-olds on the tennis court, just like it’s not unusual to see 5-year-olds playing for fun.

Many other sports are very psychically demanding on the body, but that is certainly not the case in tennis. Sure, If you play tennis like Rafael Nadal, it will be very psychically demanding, but most players don’t. The great thing about tennis is that you can adapt the playing style to your own ability.

The older you become, your playing style will adapt and consequently, change a lot. If we take one of the greatest players of all time, Rafael Nadal for example. When he was in his early 20:s he played extremely aggressive and with a play style that was extremely psychically demanding. However, as he aged, his playing style changed a lot, because he isn’t able to move the same way as 10 years back.


2. It’s a Good Workout

Tennis is not just extremely fun, it also gives your body a fantastic workout. You can burn over 1000 calories in an hour-long match. A great way to lose weight if that’s your goal. Also, there are a lot of muscles involved in tennis and within a few weeks of playing, you will notice increased muscle tone in your:

  • Calves
  • Hamstrings
  • Quads
  • Biceps
  • Triceps
  • Shoulders

3. It’s Social

You may think that tennis as an individual sport is very lonely. However, that is certainly not the case. Tennis is a very social sport that allows you to not only have fun during points but also between and after the match. 

Tennis can also be played 2v2, which is called doubles in tennis. This format is even more social and allows you to interact with your teammate before points and cheer each other up when someone makes a good shot.

Also, you can plan up a strategy with your teammate on how you should play before the match and during breaks, which makes this format of tennis perfect for socializing.


4. Tennis Can Be Played Everywhere, Any Time

Many other sports are very seasonal and can’t be played during the winter months due to the weather. This is certainly not the case with tennis. Tennis can be played both outdoor and indoor, so if it’s sunny outside today, go out and play on the outdoor court. If it rains tomorrow, well you can play on the indoor courts. That is something that is not a reality for most sports.

There is no off-season either. Sure, more people play during the summer months, but there is no such thing as an off-season. The tournaments all around the world are just as active during the winter months as in the summer.  

Also, wherever you are in the world, you will find a tennis court. If you are on vacation, there will be a court nearby for you to play. It’s such a worldwide sport today, so it’s very unlikely that you won’t find a tennis court near you.


5. It’s Super Fun!

The main reason why millions of people around the globe are playing the beautiful game of tennis is that it’s a lot of fun. Why would we play otherwise?

The people that don’t like playing tennis, are those who aren’t good at it. This is understandable because tennis is a pretty hard sport to learn, but the more you learn and develop as a tennis player, the more fun you are going to have on the court.

Once, you become a decent player, you will be able to have the ball in play for long rallies and everything becomes much more enjoyable once you have climbed up from the ”beginner stages”.


6. It’s Cheap

This may come as a surprise to you since tennis is known as a rich man sport. However, unless you thinking about taking tennis lessons, playing tennis is really cheap. This differs a lot of course depending on where in the world you are located, but most tennis courts in the US can be rented for as low as 10$/Hour.

As you are 2 players on the court, you will only have to pay 5$ per person. If we compare this to other sports, that is really cheap. In most cities, there are also a lot of free outdoor courts for everyone to play at. 

It may be cheap to play, but what about the expensive equipment? Sure, the equipment isn’t super cheap, but it doesn’t have to be as expensive as you may think.

The only real equipment that you really need is a racquet, and if you want to buy a good racquet, they are usually in the 100-200€ range.

Which isn’t cheap, but considering that you can use this racquet for ages, it’s not as expensive and totally worth it. I have used the same racquet for 7 years now and it works just fine. There are also much cheaper options on the market, and especially if you consider buying a used racquet.

You can read more about the costs of playing tennis in this post.


7. You Don’t Need a Whole Team of Players

As you may know, tennis is played 1v1. This means that all you need to play tennis is one opponent. Many other sports rely on a whole team for them to be able to play. That’s just something that makes everything so much easier when you want to practice or organize a match.

In many other sports, like soccer for example, if you make a bad game, the whole team is going to be affected. However, If you have a bad game in tennis, the only person that it will affect is you.

That is something that I think about all the time. The only person that really cares when you lose is yourself. With that in mind, you won’t feel as nervous and pressured during matches.


8. Minimal Injury Risk

Tennis is one of the sports with the least injuries in the world. There is no sport that is more popular worldwide and at the same time, has fewer injuries.

Yes, of course, there are injuries in tennis. Tennis elbow and back issues are very common for tennis players. But, it’s not even near other sports like soccer, where you are lucky if don’t get injured at least one time during a season.

The injuries that usually happen in tennis, are not the most serious either. You rarely see someone on a tennis court breaking something, or even worse getting knee injuries, which is very common in other sports.


9. Always Something To Learn

Whether you are a professional or recreational player, there is always something to learn. Of course, everyone can improve regardless of what level they are at in any sport. But, there is no sport that is as easy to locate what you need to improve at – and it’s easy to focus on that specific thing when practicing.

If we compare that to soccer, it’s much harder to know what you need to practice on to develop as a player. There are so many variables in soccer and it’s not as easy to say that I need to improve on this or that.

Let’s say, my forehand is really weak. Then it’s pretty straightforward what I need to do, practice forehands. But in soccer, it’s not as specific and much harder to tell what you need to improve. That’s at least my experience after playing both tennis and soccer for over 10 years.


10. It Requires Psychical and Mental Skills

It’s pretty obvious that you need to be fit to become a great tennis player. However, mental strength is not something that many talks about. Tennis is actually one of the most mentally tough sports in the world.

Everything from the serve, that requires a lot of focus, and if you are not in the right mental mode, you won’t serve as well. That is why so many players make double faults in the most precious moments in a match, they get nervous and can’t focus on the right things.

When there are 2 players that are on the same level, the one with the best mental strength usually is going to be the winner.

Also, you don’t rely on anyone else on the court. You are the only one in your team, so there is no other person that can help you on the court when you struggle. If we take the Wimbledon Final 2019 for example, where Novak Djokovic won over Roger Federer, despite having 3 match balls against him.

Federer played better than him during most of the game. However, in the most important moments, Djokovic stepped up and showed that he had more mental strength than Federer and won all of his 3 sets in tiebreaks.


11. Hardest Sport In The World

Tennis is one of the hardest sports to learn as a beginner, and that is part of what makes the sport so great. It may look easy when you watch players like Nadal and Federer on TV, but it really isn’t.

They have practiced their shots for over 20 years to be at the level where they are now. Some rallies go up to 20-30 shots, and that doesn’t just require skill, also a ton of endurance both psychically, but also mentally.

You can’t just be alright at swinging shots from the baseline. To compete at any sort of level, you need to be extremely comfortable in your serves, volleys, forehand, and backhands.

Once you become comfortable playing tennis, then there are other variables that you have to adjust to. Tennis Is played on 3 different surfaces (clay, grass & hard-courts), which all play very differently. Additionally, there are other things like different balls, opponents, and weather that every player needs to have in mind to have some sort of success.

Unlike many other sports, there is no time limit in tennis. This is just another thing that makes tennis even harder, you never know how long you will play for, which can be both physically and psychically demanding.

A good example of this happened at Wimbledon in 2014 when the longest match ever occurred between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut, which was completed after 3 days with a total of 11 hours of active playtime.

Here are more reasons why tennis is the hardest sport in the world.

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