The tennis clubs know big disparities. Indeed, depending on their history and their geographical location, they do not necessarily have the same "nature". Some clubs, inspired by the will of the leaders, take a family form. They revolve around a very active life and a life centered on events, moments of sharing. They organize an annual ball, an annual barbecue, etc.

Others are focused on competition. In leagues, we very often find the same clubs with the best players, in competitions, the best players very often come from the same regional club nucleus. When a so-called "rural" club forms a very good player, the latter is very often attracted to the best clubs in the region, most often urban. The geographical situation thus plays its role and this is explained by the fact that the big cities have many tennis clubs, and therefore many tournaments. This allows much less travel, and much less long travel, and therefore easier practice of competitive tennis for the players, which also leads to greater progress.

The geographical situation also plays for some clubs located on the coasts. These clubs very often have a tourist attraction. They are generally very calm winter, and the summer is very animated by the massive influx of tourists. They are therefore more centered on an economic aspect. Jean-Michel Peter and Philippe Tétard[1] also highlight that tourism has had an influence on the spread of tennis: “This success, the FFT - which is today the most important federation in individual sport - owes it in particular to distant Anglo-Saxon roots, since tennis gained France by its coasts and its beaches, at the instigation of the tourists English, major exporters of sports fashions. (…) Tennis is first and foremost beach tennis, before conquering the entire seaside area. (…) They underline (the postcards) the key role of seaside and tourist development in the establishment of tennis in France ».

[1] PETER Jean-Michel and TETARD Philippe, “The influence of seaside tourism in the spread of tennis. The case of France from 1875 to 1914 ”, STAPS : 2003 / 2, 61 number, 73 - 74 pages.

Pierre Lemonnier

Pierre studied STAPS, and validated a master's degree in sports management, after studying in Reims, Frankfurt and Lille. I discovered the padel in 2014 during my Erasmus year in Frankfurt thanks to a Spanish friend. Damn it is good padel !

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