Good weather all year, some of the top-flight academies in the world and a history of some of the best to ever play the game make California a hotbed for tennis.
With National Tennis Week just concluded July 1, BetCalifornia.com took a break from covering the hopeful legalization of California sportsbooks and took a look at which states are the most interested in tennis.
BetCalifornia.com utilized four combined data points to develop the ranking of the 50 U.S States from most to least into tennis. We utilized Google Trend’s five-year search interest of the term, “Tennis,” the Google Trend’s five-year search interest of the term, “Tennis Courts Near Me,” and then awarded five bonus points for states that have a Top 25 city for players or courts listed on Global Tennis Network.
Most Tennis Loving States
Although there are no California sports betting promo codes, national operators may have tennis offers in the next two weeks with Wimbledon kicking off Monday.
Novak Djokovic is the men’s favorite at -175, while Iga Swiatek is the women’s favorite at +220.
California Just Behind Florida as Tennis State
California ranks No. 2 after crunching the numbers, just behind Florida, the nation’s other home to many of the players and best places to learn.
When looking deeper in the data from the Global Tennis Network, the California cities ranked in the Top 25 for players are Los Angeles at No. 4 with 1,064, San Diego at No. 5 with 889, Irvine at No. 7 with 871, San Francisco at No. 10 with 730 and Long Beach at No. 17 with 465.
On the Top 25 list of courts, Los Angeles ranks No. 5 with 139, followed by San Diego at No. 8 with 123, San Francisco at No. 18 with 89 and Sacramento at No. 21 with 76 courts.
California has some of the well-known tennis academies in the country and the world, as young players from all over travel to hone their games and prepare for professional and college careers.
MyTennisHQ.com ranks the five best academies in southern and northern California. In the south, it’s TennisPower Academy, Tennis Mechanix Academy, Advantage Tennis Academy, Jackson-Bridge Tennis Academy, and Weil Tennis Academy. In the north, it’s Gorin Tennis Academy, JMG Tennis Academy, Sylvano Tennis Academy, Eagle Fustar Tennis Academy and NorCal Tennis Academy.
That’s a lot of places dedicating a lot of time to the future of the game, whether it’s the next generation of top-flight players on tour or just talented players in your neighborhood.
When it comes to the best to ever play tennis, few states can match the roster that California has put together over the years. Billie Jean King and the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, on the women’s side, plus Pete Sampras and Bobby Riggs on the men’s side piled up major championships during their great runs as professionals.
When Sampras retired with 14 majors, that was the record, but that has since been surpassed by Roger Federer (20), Rafael Nadal (22) and Novak Djokovic (23). Serena Williams may wind up one shy of tying Margaret Court’s record of 24 on the women’s side, since she won 23. King won 12, good for seventh all-time, and Venus Williams won seven majors.
Although there is no BetMGM California, nationally the operator lists Venus Williams at +20000 to win Wimbledon.
