Wholesale sales of tennis equipment in the U.S. 2007-2023

In 2023, wholesale sales of tennis racquets in the United States amounted to about 110.5 million U.S. dollars, an increase of about 20.6 percent compared to 2019. Since 2019, U.S. wholesale sales of tennis balls and other related equipment had also seen a slight increase overall. 

Tennis equipment

Tennis equipment ranges from rackets and balls to apparel and footwear. One of the leading manufacturers of tennis equipment is Wilson Sporting Goods, notably used by professional tennis players, Serena Williams and Roger Federer. In 2018, Roger Federer ended his decades-long apparel partnership with Nike and signed with Japanese apparel company, Uniqlo.

Tennis versus pickleball

Tennis is a racket sport that can be played individually against a single opponent or between two teams of two players. The object of the game is to strike the ball with a tennis racket in such a way that the opponent is unable to return it for a point. Tennis is played recreationally by millions and is very popular in many countries, including Australia, France, the United States, and Belgium.

In the United States, a similar sport, namely pickleball, has been on the rise as of late. The sport was invented in Washington state in the 1960s and follows similar rules to tennis. Some of the core differences are that it is played with a solid paddle and a plastic pickleball on a court with smaller dimensions than that of a tennis court. Nearly five million Americans had played this game in 2021, which is approximately twice the number of participants counted in 2014.