Queens at the heart of NYC tennis boom, as permit sales soar and US Open breaks attendance records – QNS

As of July 2024, the NYC Parks Department had sold 18,997 tennis permits, a significant increase from the previous year’s total.

Sales of tennis permits have been rising steadily since the pandemic-enforced shutdown in 2020, rising from 18,476 in 2021 to 18,484 in 2022 before jumping to 18,712 permits sold last year.

Parks Department officials said they expect the total number of permits sold in 2024 to rise above 20,000 before the end of the year.

NYC Parks Tennis and Budget Supervisor Adam Seidner said in a statement that the Parks Department expects to sell even more permits for the 2025 tennis season.

“The rise in tennis permits not only reflects the popularity of the sport in our city, but highlights NYC Parks’ commitment to providing accessible and well-maintained courts,” Seidner said. “We look forward to seeing even more tennis enthusiasts on our courts next year, staying active and keeping fit throughout the tennis season.”

Permits cost $100 for adults aged 18-61 and $20 for seniors aged 62 and older, while permits for children aged 18 and under cost $10. A permit is required to use a Parks Department outdoor court from the first Saturday in April until the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

Seidner and the Parks Department also pointed to a number of projects that NYC Parks completed in 2024 to make tennis courts more accessible to New Yorkers.

The Parks Department completed the reconstruction of the four tennis courts in Police Officer Edward Byrne Park in South Ozone Park and the extension of Mill Pond Park in the Bronx. The 16 courts were covered with Deco Turf, the same surface used at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, the home of the US Open.

NYC Parks also installed a new court coating and stormwater management system at Jackie Robinson Park tennis courts in Manhattan.

Tennis also experienced significant growth at the recently concluded US Open held in Flushing, Queens. The United States Tennis Association (USTA) has announced that more than 1 million people attended the US Open over the week-long Fan Week and the two-week-long main draw.

Attendances for the main draw, which ran between Aug. 26 and Sept. 8, reached a record high of 832,640, while Fan Week welcomed 216,029 between Aug. 19 and Aug. 25 — a 37 % increase compared to 2023.

The USTA also reported record attendances for Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day, with 47,875 people visiting the National Tennis Center on Saturday, Aug. 24.

The opening day of the US Open’s main draw also set a single-day attendance record of 74,641 and an all-time night session record with 31,775 attendees.

The day-session crowd of 42,886 on Day One of the main draw was additionally the second-biggest day-session attendance in US Open history.