Long winters, lack of the facilities, a lot of expenses and hockey being the country number one sport… What does it take to be a tennis player in Canada?
Canada is not the best place in the world for tennis. In country where for most of the year the weather is much more suitable for winter sports, tennis is struggling to find its place in the hearts of Canadians. There is also an issue with the lack of suitable facilities , which forces tennis players to search for indoor courts and sometimes even brings them to other courtiers. Of course, one can argue that there are a number of countries where tennis is also not the first sport, but they still have more than enough decent tennis players. It is true that popularity and a vast number of tennis courts is not the most important component in order to become successful professional player, but these aspects would defiantly make the athlete’s path much easier.
For example, Spain has the biggest number of players in top 100 ATP ranking, even though tennis comes only third in popularity rate after soccer and basketball. Of course, Spanish weather is much more suitable for tennis, because there is almost no need in indoor tennis courts even in winter. This brings us back to one of the main difficulties for Canadian athletes – the availability of courts during the winter time.
The condition of tennis court in Oakville. It is still impossible to play outside even in late March
In Canada tennis winter season starts in early fall and continues to the late spring. It means that for most of the year athletes all over Canada are bound to seek clubs that have indoor facilities. While there are quite a lot of outside courts in Toronto area, the same cannot be said about the indoor courts. Click here to take a look at the location of tennis courts in Toronto area.
There are definitely less opportunities to play in winter and people have to take some trouble to secure time in busy schedule of the clubs with indoor courts. It is especially hard for people, who are not members of these clubs, so if they want to play tennis on weekends or any other week day, they should secure the spot long before the actual date of the match.
Tennis is extremely expensive sport to play. The average price for tennis outfit rages from $130-$340 and then there are also expanses for coaches, equipment, traveling and courts. So when the price for the court goes higher during the winter season, it could be quite noticeable for the budget. Even though there are a lot of free summer tennis courts in Toronto area, there are no unpaid winter courts.
Moreover, with fewer courts available in winter time, the cost for them is affected and it is quite expensive to be an indoor member. According to TTC Membership Registration Form 2013 the price for membership in club with winter season facilities is $1,800 for adults. If non-member wants to rent a court indoor for an hour it will cost $32, which is $10 more than summer fee. The prices vary depending on club, but the difference in not very noticeable.
Indoor courts of Bayview Country Club
The coach from Bayview Golf & Country Club explained that it is quite expensive to maintain courts during winter season. There should be special overcover and heating system in order for courts to function. So, in Bayview Club they have six courts in general with only three working during the winter time. Thus, taking into account that maintenance of indoor courts is more expensive and number of people, who are able to play, is lower, it is not a big surprise that clubs goes for higher prices. The players in the Bayview club say that they enjoy the quality of both indoor and outdoor courts here. However, they wish there were more clubs with all season facilities in the area.
There are actually projects focused on bringing more access to tennis. As a result the city of Markham has opened new all season courts and there should be even more of grand openings like this one in the future. However, the main problem for opening new tennis courts is again the price. Nima Naderi mentioned that the construction of just one hard court costs $40,000, on top of that clay or grass courts cost even more expensive. There is also the question of maintaining, resurfacing and repairing the courts, which should be done every season and with clay and grass much more often.
Even though the tennis prices and limited access to the courts are two huge problems for the Canadians, there is no doubt that the biggest problem for the development of tennis in Canada is the country wide popularity of hockey and number of other sports.
Hockey is still number one sport in Canada
It is difficult to compete for kids’ attention in the country where everything is about hockey. According to Statistics Canada tennis is not even in top 5 most participated sports in the country. Moreover, Nima Naderi said that over 60% of the kids start coming less to his tennis club in winter, because they have hockey. However, he is still optimistic about the future of tennis in Canada:
“Tennis is growing in Canada. It’s definitely on upswing compared to 10 years ago, there is no question about it…but it still has a long way to go.”
Of course, Tennis Canada is aware of the popularity problem and has launched a program – “Not every kid in Canada wants to play hockey”. The program is designed especially for kids and allows them to try “kid-sized” version of the play. According to Tennis Canada they want to give Canadian children an opportunity to play something other than hockey.
However, Mr. Naderi is sure that if somebody wants to become a professional tennis player, there is nothing than can stop them, except of themselves.
“In the end of the day the reason way there is not so many good players have nothing to do with anything except of the players…”
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