– It is fun! And fun! Arianna, Arianne, Jenny, Emil, Karl and Kai spend several hours a week at the Stavanger tennis club. And the gang thus greatly contributes to their sport being one of the fastest growing between 2016 and 2022. Tennis is beaten only by the Norwegian Golf Association. This is shown by recent figures from the Norwegian Sports Confederation. The number of members of the Norwegian Tennis Association increased by almost 50 per cent during these years. And there is little indication that the numbers are on the way down. Casper Ruud is number nine in the world, and before the summer was number two in the French Open. – We see a clear Casper effect, says president Lars Gjerdåker of the Norwegian Tennis Association. Are we now seeing the Casper Ruud effect of tennis in Norway? Photo: Images courtesy of Discovery+ Golf is also one of the sports that has seen an enormous upswing in recent years. And right now, only the Norwegian Football Association is bigger than the golf association. No proven connection What both tennis and golf have in common is that Norway has two of the biggest profiles in the sports. Viktor Hovland recently contributed strongly to European victory in the Ryder Cup golf tournament. Nevertheless, it is difficult to see any connection between profiles in sports and why we choose sports the way we do, according to researcher Marlene Folkestad Persson at Oslo Met. – There is no one, as far as I know, who has unequivocally established that sporting success in itself permanently increases participation in that activity, says Folkestad Persson. Viktor Hovland may have made golf more popular with Norwegians. Photo: Mads Thygesen / news She has researched both sports and youth. – But it is clear that some sports become very visible when someone is very successful, she says. Others, however, do not. Persson singles out beach volleyball, where Christian Sørum and Anders Mol became world champions in 2022. – So it’s probably more about which sports get media attention and which don’t. Perhaps you, as journalists, are better at answering that, she says. She highlights golf and tennis as sports where the potential in all groups and segments may not have been fully exploited yet. – But if the women’s national handball team wins another gold, it does not matter in terms of recruitment. They already have the merits, she says. Padelboom At the same time, the Norwegian Tennis Association estimates that several hundred thousand Norwegians have already tried the relatively new sport of padel tennis. The sport is included in the tennis association, and has already gained around 3,000 members. Around Norway, commercial padel tennis facilities have opened over a low shoe in recent years. – Padel is a fantastic sport, which has an easier entry level than regular tennis. At the same time, it is also easier to start padel, as you always play doubles, says Gjerdåker. InterPadel is one of the largest Norwegian commercial padel tennis players. They have several centers around the country, and are owned by, among others, Thor Hushovd and Bjørn Maaseide. Padel tennis is helping to increase the number of members in the Norwegian Tennis Association. Photo: Hanne Rebecca Nilsen / news General manager at InterPadel Bryne, Tommy Myhre, says the traffic has been enormous since they opened in October last year. – The draw is just as big as elsewhere. We have had 3,000 registered customers since we opened. But those who book have three others with them, so we can’t measure exactly, he says. – But it has been almost full every day all winter. It’s pretty sick. – A bloody rich man’s thing Tennis has long had a reputation for being a rich man’s sport. This is no longer the case. Now almost “everyone” plays some form of tennis. But many who grew up in the 90s and 2000s may associate tennis with the book and film “The Man Who Loved Yngve”. And the quote “Tennis? In the name of the savior Jesus Christ. Tennis? Have you got AIDS or not?” of the character Helge Ombo. – I think that the outspoken, lying abuser Helge Ombo would have had a bad day today, says Tore Renberg to news. The author of “The Man Who Loved Yngve” and the man behind the character Helge Ombo, Tore Renberg. Helge Ombo was not a fan of tennis. Photo: Thomas Ystrøm / news The book’s author Renberg nevertheless believes that the views of the character Helge Ombo would be quite similar today, even though tennis has now almost become everyone’s property. – He would surely have thought tennis was a damn rich man’s thing.
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Tennis and golf are Norway’s fastest growing sports – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
