Grassroots Tennis Development in Saudi Arabia: Building a Nation of Players

Elite tournament hosting captures headlines. Grassroots development determines whether a country becomes a tennis nation. Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in both, but the grassroots programs — less visible, less glamorous, and far less discussed than the Six Kings Slam or WTA Finals — may ultimately prove to be the more consequential investment. A $6 million exhibition prize creates a three-day spectacle. A nationwide school tennis program creates a generation of players, fans, and participants whose engagement with the sport can sustain an entire ecosystem for decades.

The Saudi Tennis Federation, under President Arij Almutabagani, has articulated a development vision with specific, measurable targets: 60,000 young people introduced to tennis through schools, 1 million tennis fans by 2030, 505 coaches and 182 officials deployed nationwide, and integration of tennis into the Ministry of Education’s public school curriculum. These targets are ambitious for a country where football dominates the sporting landscape and where tennis, until recently, was largely confined to expatriate communities and private clubs. Achieving them requires sustained investment, institutional coordination, and cultural change at a scale that no tennis federation in the Middle East has previously attempted.

Tennis For All: The Flagship Program

The Tennis For All program is the STF’s primary vehicle for mass participation. Launched in 2022 in partnership with the Saudi Sports For All Federation (SFA), the program follows a 16-week format designed to introduce complete beginners to the fundamentals of tennis through structured, accessible sessions that emphasize enjoyment and physical literacy over competitive intensity.

The program’s growth trajectory has been impressive. The inaugural edition in 2022 reached 13,000 participants. The second edition scaled to 30,000 participants — a 130% increase that suggests both strong demand and effective operational scaling. The program was initially deployed across 90 schools, expanding to 200 schools by 2024 with a target of 400 by 2025. A total of 170 teachers have been trained as program facilitators, creating a distributed network of tennis educators embedded within the public school system.

The most significant aspect of Tennis For All is its integration into the Ministry of Education curriculum. This means that tennis is not merely an extracurricular activity offered at select schools — it is part of the formal educational program at participating public schools. This institutional embedding ensures continuity, funding, and reach that voluntary programs cannot match. When a sport is part of the school day rather than an afterschool option, participation rates increase dramatically, and the social and geographic diversity of the participant pool broadens.

The program’s design reflects international best practices for grassroots tennis development. The 16-week format provides sufficient time for participants to develop basic motor skills (grip, swing, footwork), learn simplified game rules, experience competitive play in modified formats (mini-tennis, short-court games), and develop sufficient comfort and competence to continue playing independently. Research from the International Tennis Federation and Tennis Australia has demonstrated that 12-16 week introductory programs produce the highest rates of sustained participation, compared to shorter or longer formats.

Coaching Infrastructure

A grassroots program is only as strong as its coaching workforce. The STF maintains 505 coaches nationwide, a figure that has grown significantly in recent years through certification programs, international coaching exchanges, and partnerships with established tennis academies.

The coaching workforce faces a unique challenge in Saudi Arabia: the need to serve both male and female participants, across a wide range of ages and abilities, in a cultural context where gender segregation in sport has historically been the norm. The STF’s approach has been to train coaches of both genders and to develop programming that accommodates cultural sensitivities while expanding participation opportunities for women and girls.

Private academies complement the STF’s coaching infrastructure. The DQ Tennis Academy in Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter operates seven tennis courts and two padel courts, offering programs for adults and children with fees starting at SR 1,350 (approximately $360) for eight sessions per month. Net Tennis Academy, located near Diriyah, has been registered with the STF and plans expansion to Jeddah. The Palms Racquet Club & Academy offers family-friendly tennis and padel facilities. These private operators serve primarily the expatriate and upper-middle-class Saudi market, filling a gap that the STF’s public programs do not fully address.

The ratio of coaches to population remains low compared to established tennis nations. Australia, with a population of 26 million, employs over 6,000 tennis coaches. Saudi Arabia, with a population of 36 million, has 505. Closing this gap will require sustained investment in coach education, competitive compensation packages to attract and retain qualified coaches, and pathways for Saudi nationals to pursue coaching careers. The STF’s partnership with international bodies and tennis federations provides access to coaching curricula and certification standards, but scaling the workforce to match the ambition of Tennis For All will take years.

Women’s Participation

The expansion of women’s tennis participation represents one of the most socially significant dimensions of Saudi grassroots development. Until the reform era that began in 2017, women’s access to organized sport in Saudi Arabia was severely restricted. The transformation has been rapid but remains incomplete, and tennis — with its individual format, moderate physical space requirements, and global association with female excellence — is well-positioned to lead the expansion.

The appointment of Arij Almutabagani as STF president sends a powerful signal about women’s leadership in Saudi sport. Her presidency is not merely symbolic; it shapes the federation’s strategic priorities, resource allocation, and programming decisions. Under her leadership, the STF has prioritized women’s and girls’ participation as a core strategic objective rather than a secondary consideration.

The WTA Foundation collaboration, established in 2024, brings international expertise and institutional support to Saudi women’s tennis development. The partnership focuses on community tennis, women’s health, and leadership in sport. The Breast Cancer Survivor Tennis Clinic Series, operated at Net Tennis Academy in Riyadh, demonstrates how tennis can serve broader social and health objectives beyond competitive sport.

Participation data for women and girls in Saudi tennis remains limited, but anecdotal evidence from academies and clubs suggests rapid growth. DQ Tennis Academy reports strong enrollment in women’s classes, and private facilities increasingly offer women-only sessions and dedicated court time. The Tennis For All school program includes female students in its participant pool, providing many young Saudi women with their first exposure to the sport.

The challenge is ensuring that women’s participation extends beyond the introductory level to competitive play, advanced training, and eventually professional competition. This requires dedicated women’s facilities (or dedicated hours at shared facilities), female coaching staff, competitive pathways (local tournaments, national championships, international competition), and cultural acceptance of women’s competitive sport as normal and valued. Each of these requirements is advancing, but none is fully resolved.

The Talent Pipeline

The ultimate measure of grassroots development is whether it produces players capable of competing at the professional level. Saudi Arabia’s tennis talent pipeline is in its earliest stages, and any expectation of near-term professional results would be unrealistic. The pathway from grassroots introduction to professional competition typically requires 10-15 years of sustained development, world-class coaching, competitive experience, and individual talent.

Currently, no Saudi player competes on the main ATP or WTA tours. In padel, where Saudi development is more advanced, eight Saudi women appear in FIP rankings (with Sara Mohammed Salhab ranked 249th) and 27 Saudi men hold FIP rankings, with the men’s presence doubling from the previous year. These padel rankings suggest that Saudi athletes can compete at international level in racquet sports when given sufficient support, and the STF’s stated ambition is to develop tennis talent to a comparable standard.

The Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah provides a domestic showcase for the world’s best young players, creating visible role models for Saudi youth. Past champions of the Next Gen Finals include Stefanos Tsitsipas, Jannik Sinner, and Carlos Alcaraz — players who went on to Grand Slam titles. Saudi youth watching these players compete in their own country may be inspired to pursue competitive tennis in ways they would not be if the sport existed only on foreign television broadcasts.

The STF’s development strategy includes identifying talented juniors through school programs and academy assessments, providing advanced training through the federation and partner academies, supporting competitive development through domestic tournaments and international exposure, and connecting promising players with international coaching and training opportunities. Rafael Nadal’s appointment as STF ambassador provides a direct link to one of the sport’s most decorated competitors, and his involvement in development initiatives lends credibility and inspiration to the entire pipeline.

Facility Requirements

Grassroots development cannot scale without facilities. The current tennis facility inventory in Riyadh and broader Saudi Arabia is growing but remains insufficient for the STF’s participation targets. The Global Tennis Network lists 10+ courts in Riyadh, supplemented by courts in residential compounds, private clubs, and hotel facilities. The STF’s interactive court-finding platform helps players locate available facilities, but the density of courts per capita remains far below established tennis markets.

Meeting the Tennis For All target of 400 participating schools by 2025 requires either dedicated tennis courts at each school or access to nearby facilities. Given that most Saudi public schools do not have tennis courts, the program likely relies on portable net systems, modified court markings on existing play surfaces, and partnerships with nearby clubs and public courts. These adaptations are common in grassroots tennis programs worldwide and can be effective for introductory programming, but they limit the ability to progress participants to standard-format competitive play.

The construction pipeline for new tennis facilities includes the planned ATP Masters 1000 venue (which will include multiple courts suitable for development purposes), private academy expansions, and public court construction projects aligned with municipal development plans. The padel facility pipeline is more advanced, with 431 facilities, 1,097 courts, and a strategic goal of 1,000 additional courts across 13 regions by 2030. Tennis facility development may follow a similar trajectory if demand continues to grow.

Measuring Success

The STF’s grassroots development program should be evaluated against both its stated targets and reasonable benchmarks from comparable nations:

The Australian comparison is illustrative but should be interpreted cautiously. Australia has a century-long tennis tradition, purpose-built facilities in every community, and a cultural identity intertwined with Grand Slam success. Saudi Arabia is building from a fundamentally different starting point. The relevant comparison is not where Saudi tennis stands relative to established nations, but how fast it is closing the gap relative to its own starting position. On that measure, the trajectory is encouraging: participant numbers are doubling, the coaching workforce is expanding, school integration is accelerating, and women’s participation is growing from a near-zero baseline.

The Coaching Infrastructure Challenge: Can 505 Coaches Serve 100,000 Players?

The STF’s 505-coach workforce — while impressive growth from a near-zero baseline — faces a mathematical challenge as participation targets scale. If the STF achieves its target of 100,000 registered players by 2030, the coach-to-player ratio would be approximately 1:198 — far higher than the 1:50 to 1:100 ratios that established tennis nations maintain. The 170 school teachers trained through Tennis For All supplement the coaching workforce at the introduction level, but the intermediate and advanced coaching tiers remain constrained.

The coaching workforce expansion plan targets 300 to 400 qualified coaches capable of delivering structured development programs by 2030. This expansion requires international recruitment of experienced coaches, domestic certification programs aligned with ITF standards, and retention strategies that compete with coaching opportunities in established tennis markets.

The coaching quality distribution is as important as the quantity. The current workforce is concentrated at the introduction and recreation tiers, with a small number of elite development coaches at the Riyadh Tennis Academy. For the grassroots pipeline to produce competitive players, the intermediate tier — where talented recreational players transition to competitive development — needs significant coaching reinforcement.

The Facility Pipeline: Courts Where Players Need Them

Grassroots development requires facility access that matches the geographic and demographic distribution of the target population. The STF’s target of 120 public courts in Riyadh by 2030 (up from approximately 50) must prioritize underserved neighborhoods — particularly southern Riyadh and newer residential districts — where potential participants currently lack court access within a reasonable distance.

The co-location of tennis with padel facilities offers a cost-efficient approach to grassroots facility development. Combined tennis-padel installations serve broader racquet sport communities, share infrastructure costs, and create cross-sport pathways that increase total participation. The Saudi Padel Committee’s strategic goal of 1,000 additional courts across 13 regions by 2030 creates opportunities for integrated planning that benefits both sports.

Indoor facility development is essential for year-round grassroots participation. Without indoor courts, grassroots programs are interrupted for four to five months annually during the extreme summer heat — a disruption that undermines training continuity and causes participant dropout. The indoor facility expansion (targeting 150-200 indoor courts by 2030) must include grassroots-accessible facilities, not only elite training centers.

The Women’s Grassroots Dimension

Women’s grassroots development represents the most transformative potential within the Saudi tennis pipeline. The WTA Foundation collaboration with the STF — including community tennis programs, women’s health initiatives, and the Breast Cancer Survivor Tennis Clinic Series — demonstrates how women’s grassroots tennis can serve multiple social objectives simultaneously.

The padel sector’s demonstrated success in women’s participation — 29 women’s teams in the Saudi Games qualifiers, 8 women with FIP rankings, growing participation at university level — provides evidence that Saudi women are engaging with racquet sports at scale. Tennis grassroots programs can leverage this evidence and these networks to accelerate women’s tennis participation growth.

The STF President Arij Almutabagani’s female leadership of the Federation provides institutional commitment to women’s grassroots development that transcends individual program decisions. Policy frameworks for facility access, programming design, and coaching education are shaped by leadership that includes women, ensuring that women’s grassroots development is integrated into strategic planning rather than treated as an ancillary consideration.

The Investment Context: Grassroots Within the Portfolio

Grassroots development investment must be understood within the context of the broader Saudi tennis investment portfolio. The PIF’s commitment — including the PIF ATP and WTA Rankings naming partnerships, the Six Kings Slam ($15 million prize pool), the WTA Finals ($15.25 million prize money), the Next Gen ATP Finals, and the forthcoming Masters 1000 — creates visibility and inspiration at the elite level. Grassroots investment converts that visibility into participation — ensuring that children inspired by Sinner, Alcaraz, Gauff, and Sabalenka have accessible pathways to engage with the sport.

The connection between elite investment and grassroots participation is the fundamental logic of the Saudi tennis strategy. Without elite events, there is no inspiration. Without grassroots programs, there is no pathway. Without both, there is no sustainable tennis culture. The grassroots development pipeline — from Tennis For All to academy development to national team competition — is the mechanism through which Saudi Arabia’s extraordinary financial investment in tennis will either produce lasting cultural impact or remain a temporary spectacle.

The true test will come in 5-10 years, when the first cohort of Tennis For All participants reaches the age at which competitive pathways diverge from recreational participation. If the STF has built the coaching, facility, and competitive infrastructure to retain and develop talented juniors from this cohort, the grassroots investment will have created a genuine pipeline. If not, the program will have succeeded as a mass participation initiative — valuable in itself for health, social, and cultural reasons — but will not have achieved the competitive development ambitions that distinguish a national tennis program from a physical education initiative.