Women’s sports have never been more popular with spectators. WNBA franchise valuations are soaring. The most recent March Madness and Winter Olympics both broke viewership records for women’s events.
Participation among younger girls has surged in recent years — fueled by the visibility of megastars such as Simone Biles, Serena Williams and Caitlin Clark. But the opportunity now is to make that momentum last beyond adolescence, when school teams disappear and women lose the structures that made sports a regular part of their lives.
Too often, participation fades just as the lifelong benefits begin. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly half of American women aren’t getting enough leisure-time physical activity to meet basic health guidelines. And today, adult men are nearly twice as likely as women to have played a sport in the past year.
Women ought to be playing more sports because even just a couple of hours a week can provide significant benefits for physical health, mental health and overall well-being — and they’re fun and social and can be played at any stage in life.
Sports are among the most effective forms of physical activity we have. A 25-year study by U.S. and Denmark researchers found that social sports such as tennis, badminton and soccer can add an average of nearly seven years of life expectancy to individuals’ lives, compared with the life expectancy of their sedentary peers.
Even modest participation can have a measurable impact. Just three hours per week of racquet sports, for example, is associated with a 56% reduction More Top Picks Tarps
Sports are one of the few activities that consistently combine exercise with built-in social interaction — two factors that are independently linked to better mental health.
Adults who participate in group sports report lower levels of stress, anxiety and depression over time. For women, who are diagnosed with depression at nearly twice the rate of men, those benefits are especially meaningful. A 2021 longitudinal study found that adults who belonged to a sport or exercise group reported significantly fewer symptoms of depression up to four years later.
Regular sports also build confidence. It may come as no surprise that 94% of women leaders in C-suite roles played sports in college. Sports reward discipline, resilience, teamwork and strategic decision-making — even if it’s just a couple of hours a week.
But the challenge isn’t that women don’t want to play. It’s that once women leave organized sports, there are few obvious ways to return. Recreational leagues can be intimidating, are often male-dominated and require a level of skill too high for casual players.
Some sports lower those barriers more effectively than others. Tennis is one of them.
Women make up roughly 43% of all annual tennis players — one of the highest shares across popular sports — making it far more likely that a beginner can find a partner at a similar level.
It’s also widely accessible: There are nearly 270,000 courts across the U.S., many of them public. The cost of entry is relatively low, too — a partner, a racquet, a handful of balls and access to a court are all that’s needed to try it out.
Just as important, tennis is a sport people can play at any age. Unlike many high-impact team sports, it can be adapted to different fitness and ability levels, making it a practical long-term option for adults who want to stay active over decades.
It also bolsters community at almost any phase of life. A doubles group can become a landing place after a move, a weekly anchor amid a busy worklife or a new social circle in retirement.
Tennis is a sport people tend to stick with. U.S. tennis participation has grown for six consecutive years, and more than 20 million players returned to the court in 2025 — evidence that once people start playing, most keep coming back.
And its health benefits might be part of the reason why. In the same long-term study, tennis was associated with a 9.7-year increase in life expectancy — nearly double the gain observed for many other forms of exercise. And with adult women making up roughly 80% of those with osteoporosis, tennis’s natural weight-bearing style of play helps promote bone density, for early and late starters alike.
Tennis also delivers a holistic workout that is sustainable and, frankly, fun. One hour of tennis can burn from 500 to 800 calories — about the same as one hour of running on a treadmill. And because the whole body is involved, tennis improves muscle composition, grip strength and coordination.
Women’s sports shouldn’t be thriving only in stadiums and on TV. As demand for jerseys and ticket prices rise, so should casual participation. And while tennis is hardly the only option, it delivers precisely what many adult women need more of: a sport that is accessible, social, physically sustainable and genuinely enjoyable.
Lindsay Davenport is a former world No. 1 on the WTA Tour, a three-time Grand Slam singles champion, a three-time major doubles champion and the 1996 women’s singles Olympic gold medalist. Davenport, an International Tennis Hall of Famer, is the captain of the U.S. Billie Jean King Cup team and serves as a commentator and analyst for the Tennis Channel.
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