How much does it cost to play tennis?
How expensive is tennis for beginners
How much does it cost to play tennis as an adult?
Many people interested in tennis ask themselves the question again and again: How much does it cost to play tennis? Do I need the complete tennis equipment directly? What costs do I have to calculate? What if I don’t enjoy tennis as much as I thought I would?
Tennis has the reputation of being a sport for the rich, but what does it really cost to play tennis? Below we answer this question by listing the cost items so you can calculate it pretty easily for your local circumstances – enjoy reading.
1. How much does it cost to play tennis?
Playing tennis costs an adult an average of 1,075 dollar per year or about 90 dollar per month. However, depending on local conditions, e.g. membership fees and tennis lessons, and personal preferences, e.g. own tennis equipment, variations from 600 to over 5,000 dollars per year are possible. The above costs include annual membership in the tennis club, one hour of tennis lessons in summer and a one-hour indoor court rental in winter, as well as proportional costs for the use of tennis equipment.
a) Cost of tennis membership: 200 Dollar
To play tennis regularly, we recommend a membership in one of the tennis clubs. The annual membership fee for an adult is on average 200 Dollar, but can vary from 50 to over 1,000 Dollars in elite tennis clubs.
The following overview shows the average annual cost of a tennis club membership:
Adults: 200 dollar
Couples: 350 dollar
Families with two children: 400 dollar
Students: 120 dollar
Teenagers: 100 dollar
It becomes clear that tennis clubs encourage couples, families, students and young people and reward them with lower membership fees. For a couple, the annual cost to the individual is reduced to 175 dollar (350 dollar divided by 2). A saving of 25 dollar per year.
With club membership, the club’s own outdoor courts can be used free of charge.
As an alternative, tennis courts can also be rented per hour. The court rent is on average 30 dollar per hour, which can be divided by the number of players. I.e. for a single player, each tennis player pays 15 dollar per hour.
In purely mathematical terms, membership in a tennis club is therefore worthwhile for an adult if he or she plays tennis 14 times in the summer. However, further advantages of a membership in a tennis club, e.g. the participation in matches, the internal club championships or common celebrations and parties, must not be disregarded in the financial consideration.
b) Cost of tennis lessons: 325 Dollar
We recommend that every tennis player, regardless of whether they are a beginner or an advanced tennis player, take regular tennis lessons with a tennis coach. Even though the foundation for the right stroke technique is laid especially in the first years, you never stop learning and can always add new facets to your own tennis game.
Theoretically, of course, it is possible to learn tennis without a tennis coach, but it is not the classic introduction to tennis.
A tennis lesson with a tennis coach costs on average 50 dollars. Depending on the experience and education of the tennis coach and the region, big city vs. surrounding area, the price varies between 40 and 120 dollar per hour.
This price is usually divided by the number of participants – from single training to 4-person training. This results in a price per person of approx. 12.5 dollar per week in a 4-person training group. Assuming 26 weeks of tennis training in the summer, this results in a total price of approx. 325 dollar per adult.
Tennis training for children is often subsidized by the tennis clubs, so the price for a summer season should be even cheaper.
If you, as a tennis beginner, have the interest and the budget to make progress as quickly as possible, we recommend, for example, an additional weekly individual lesson to refine your stroke technique. The individual tennis lesson then costs an average of 1,300 dollar per summer season (50 euros per hour for 26 hours), but the frequency can of course be arranged with the tennis coach as desired.
We recommend every tennis beginner to arrange for free play in addition to a potential hour of tennis lessons, so that what has been learned in training can also be applied and repeated as often as possible. If you are a member of a tennis club, you do not have to pay any additional fees.
c) Cost of playing tennis in the tennis hall: 200 dollar
In winter – from about the beginning of October to the end of April – both club members and non-members pay per hour to use the indoor tennis courts. In the club’s own tennis indoor courts, club members could possibly still receive a small discount, but the majority of tennis clubs do not have their own tennis indoor courts and are therefore dependent on private indoor court operators.
Therefore, many tennis players book a one-hour indoor subscription in winter and prefer to play among themselves to save the costs for the tennis coach. Again, we recommend that beginner tennis players also take tennis lessons with a tennis coach in the winter, but due to the additional indoor costs, this is understandably not possible for every tennis player.
Depending on the time of day, the day of the week, the surface of the indoor courts and the region, a one-hour indoor subscription costs an average of 800 dollar and varies between 600 and 1,000 dollar. This price is again divided by the number of players, so that with 4 tennis players a proportional contribution of approx. 200 dollar is due.
It is important to mention that a indoor court subscription is concluded for the entire winter for a certain time on a weekday and cannot be postponed. Unused hours can usually not be returned and expire.
If you prefer to play singles (two players) and not doubles (four players), the cost will double accordingly. The cost of a tennis lesson is unchanged from the summer prices, i.e. an average of 50 euros with fluctuations from 40 to 120 euros per hour.
d) Cost of tennis equipment: 350 dollar
The proportional cost of tennis equipment and its wear and tear varies enormously from player to player. Factors to be included are, for example, the number of tennis strings, the wear and tear of tennis grip bands and tennis balls or the purchase of the latest tennis outfits.
The following average proportional annual costs can be expected for tennis beginners:
1) Tennis balls: 60 dollar
The different tennis balls cost about 3,00 dollar per tennis ball. The tennis balls can be bought in cans of 4, i.e. we assume 4 cans per year. After all, tennis balls are provided during training and when you play freely, your playing partners will surely bring tennis balls with them from time to time. And since you are a tennis beginner and probably don’t serve at 125 miles per hour yet, the wear and tear should be kept within reasonable limits.
2) Tennis racket: 67.50 dollar
The tennis racket is the tool of every tennis player. At the beginning you buy the previous year’s model for about 150 dollar and one year later you buy the tennis racket a second time – also for 120 dollar. Assuming that you treat your tennis rackets gently as a beginner, these 2 tennis rackets should last 4 years.
3) Tennis shoes: 83.33 dollar
For both the summer and winter season, a pair of tennis shoes is needed for about 100 dollar each. The tennis shoes for indoor tennis should last about 3 years for both men and women. However, the women’s and men’s tennis shoes for potential clay courts have a higher wear rate, so a beginner tennis player should buy new tennis shoes after two seasons.
4) Tennis strings: 40 dollar
With tennis beginners it can be assumed that the tennis string will not break in the first year and if it does, one can only say “congratulations”, because then one is working diligently on one’s own tennis game. A stringing costs depending on the tennis string, stringing machine and region about 40 dollar per stringing, which we apply as a lump sum.
A 200 m tennis roll*, which is sufficient for ~17 stringings, is a good investment in your tennis career.
5) Tennis bag: 25 dollar
A tennis bag is not absolutely necessary at the beginning of your tennis career, but it shows your ambitious tennis ambitions. A tennis bag* costs about 100 dollar and should last at least 4 years if treated gently.
6) Tennis clothes and accessories: 85 dollar
Of course you can also wear your stylish ladies or men’s jogging shirt to play tennis and keep the costs low. Nevertheless, we especially recommend buying proper tennis pants or tennis skirts where a tennis ball can be comfortably stowed away. There are no upper limits for this item: from tracksuits to headbands to tennis mufflers and grip bands everything is possible. We apply a flat rate of 85 dollar per year.
This gives us a lump sum of 350 dollar per year on average, which can vary from 250 to well over 1,000 dollar.
2. How much does it cost to start tennis?
Especially at the start of your own tennis career, some cost items are incurred right at the beginning, but other cost items are also cheaper than at a later point in your tennis career.
Tip: The cheapest time to start your tennis career is at the beginning of the summer season in mid-April. A complete summer season as a beginner tennis player costs about 750 dollar. After that, you can decide whether you have been bitten by the tennis bug and want to continue playing or whether you would rather stop.
First of all, however, an important point in advance: In order to try out playing tennis once – and not for a summer season – the tennis clubs usually offer free of charge, i.e. no money has to be spent on tennis equipment etc. The tennis balls and a tennis racket are free of charge for a first try out.
Tennis balls and a tennis racket are provided and jogging shoes may often be used as tennis shoes for the first time. After the trial training, however, a decision should be made promptly for or against starting tennis for the summer season.
In the following we would like to give you a rough overview of the costs to be expected when starting tennis.
a) Trial membership in a tennis club: 100 dollar
Since many tennis clubs offer a discounted trial membership, i.e. often the membership fee for the 1st year is reduced by 50%. From the 2nd year on, the discount is usually cancelled, so that you pay the full membership fee of 200 dollar for an adult.
b) Tennis training in summer: 325 dollar
You are motivated and want to try tennis properly, then an hour of tennis lessons in a group of 4 should not be missed. The cost is approximately 325 dollar for the summer season.
c) Tennis shoes: 100 dollar
For the courts in your tennis club you need the appropriate tennis shoes. The previous year’s model for men and women can be purchased for an average of 100 dollars. Tennis beginners usually use their tennis shoes longer than one season if they are treated gently, so these costs do not have to be paid again.
d) Tennis racket: 150 dollar
An own tennis racket may not be missing. At the beginning of your own tennis career, a tennis racket is perfectly sufficient. Here, too, you can buy the previous year’s model and pay about 150 dollar. Tennis beginners also use their own tennis racket longer than one season if treated gently, so that these costs do not arise again.
In addition, a used tennis racket could be resold after one season without great financial loss in your own tennis club or online.
e) Tennis balls: 12 dollars
Own tennis balls are needed to play without a coach. A ball box with 4 tennis balls costs about 12 dollar. You can play with the tennis balls on the club’s own tennis courts at any time.
f) Other: 63 dollar
Miscellaneous includes for example a new grip tape or a pair of tennis shorts or a tennis skirt. The 63 dollar are chosen, so that we come to a smooth sum of 750 dollar altogether for the tennis entrance. Gradually, of course, expand your own tennis equipment, but to start your tennis career, this should roughly fit.
3. Summary and conclusion
The annual cost of tennis for an adult averages 1,075 dollar per year, or about 90 dollar per month. However, these can vary significantly: from 600 to over 5,000 dollar per year, anything is possible.
To try out the sport of tennis, it is advisable to start during the low-cost summer season, which costs around 750 dollar after a free trial training session.
Have fun with your tennis start!