By Florence Baxter
Tennis has been historically celebrated for its elegance, intensity and global appeal, but, behind the rallies and records lies a hidden cost: a significant environmental footprint.
Almost 400 million tennis balls are produced worldwide each year, yet even today, only 1% of these are ultimately recycled. Non-decomposable due to their rubber and felt composition, companies and tournament bodies are finally beginning to look forward to new, innovative ways to reuse their ball supplies. Alongside this, large-scale events such as the US Open are estimated to produce over 28,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions in a single tournament – largely due to international travel, energy usage, and single-use plastics.
As global warming intensifies and the impact of the climate crisis becomes more prominent, the sporting world must adapt… and the employment of sustainability professionals within sport is growing. However, how can a sport like tennis, so tied to travel, production and consumption, reduce its environmental impact?
Reducing Plastic Waste: The Rise of Reusable Water Bottles
One of the most visible changes on the professional tour in recent years has been the notable shift towards reducing single-use plastic, with reusable bottles being offered to players and staff through tournament providers and sponsorships. This has been noticeable on the court side, but also now often used during press conferences for larger tournaments and Grand Slams, including Wimbledon. Major tournaments further encourage this by now ensuring there are water refill stations accessible for players, press and spectators. This shift not only limits the tournament’s plastic waste but also helps to set a new cultural standard in a sport watched by millions.
Wimbledon: The Roots of a Sustainable Grand Slam
The All England Lawn Tennis Club, organiser of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, has emerged as a leader in embedding eco-friendly practices and conscious, sustainable decision-making into its tournament operations. While steeped in tradition, and renowned for its sporting excellence, the Wimbledon Tennis Championships are also investing significantly in proving their environmental commitment – with ambitious goals to become carbon net zero by 2030.
Wimbledon has implemented a variety of initiatives to reduce its environmental impact, including the use of renewable energy, the reduction of plastic waste, and the promotion of biodiversity. Sustainability now plays a key role in tournament-decision making, from powering the grounds using 100% renewable electricity, to environmentally-friendly catering practices, such as sourcing food locally and reducing packaging waste. There’s even evidence of creative reuse of tennis balls – turning them into makeshift wildlife habitats for harvest mice, or using them for surface cushioning in schools and community projects. Having partnered with local Wildlife Trusts since the early 2000s, Wimbledon is proving that even the most prestigious events can serve the planet.
These efforts provide a valuable blueprint for the tennis community’s sustainability journey – and potential.
From Landfill, to Lifestyle: Reusing tennis balls, eco-racquets and sustainable sportswear
Environmentally focused creations are now leading the way, illustrating how products once considered waste can be transformed into useful, innovative creations to give them a new lease of life.
Beyond Wimbledon’s efforts, other enterprises are also endeavouring to find new uses for tennis balls, from sound-proofing to home innovation, extending their usefulness beyond the final point. Market leaders Dyuce and Soundbounce play a key role in commercial reductions of tennis ball waste, by merging circular economy principles with modern design. Whilst Deuce transform used balls into lifestyle and homeware items, such as coasters, furniture feet, or floor protectors, Soundbounce are an innovation company who integrate old tennis balls into noise-reduction panels, particularly for use in construction and urban environments. By harnessing their acoustic properties, they reduce landfill and noise pollution simultaneously.
One of the lesser-known contributors to tennis waste is string, with high-performance strings, especially synthetic types, being replaced and discarded frequently. One forward-thinking company, Orobor, is aiming to tackle this major waste by crushing used tennis strings and repurposing them into textiles. These are then turned into clothing items like t-shirts, caps, and even athletic wear. This innovation taps into a growing interest in sustainable sports fashion, combining functionality and performance, with environmental conscience.
However, the mayor manufacturers are not sitting on the sidelines during this shift. For one, Wilson have released a series of pressure-less tennis balls that last longer, cutting down on replacements. Branded as the world’s first eco-conscious tennis balls, Wilson Triniti range comprises of high-performance, durable balls that as unusually packaged outside of tradition al plastic, pressurised cans due to their varied core material with a more flexible felt. These balls are contained in fully-recyclable packaging, made from FSC-certified materials – “the first of its kind in the high performance tennis ball industry” (Wilson, 2023). Additionally, since 2024, Head has partnered with Toray Industries, a Japanese company specialising in recycled materials, to create rackets and bags from industrial waste. Working together, the companies have produced the Boom Raw tennis racquet, which uses bio-circular carbon fibre. This racquet is said to retain professional-grade performance while slashing resource extraction and production emissions.
The push for transparency and accountability in production is part of a broader trend towards conscious consumption – giving players and fans more sustainable choices without compromising performance. This signals a shift from purely performance-based gear, towards eco-conscious engineering, without compromising quality.
Keeping Score Off the Court: Tracking Carbon on Tour
In a sport that thrives on statistics and rankings, it’s fitting that sustainability is now being tracked similarly. In such a global sport, with players, spectators and press regularly travelling across the world to attend tournaments, travel ranks as the biggest contributor to the sport’s carbon emissions. Now, a growing number of initiatives are helping players measure and reduce their carbon footprints, bringing transparency to the environmental side of tennis travel and tournament schedules.
One such tool is the ATP Carbon Tracker, which ranks players based on the sustainability of their travel choices to tournaments and personal environmental efforts. By calculating emissions from flights, transport and accommodation, these platforms create a real-time picture of the impact players have on the planet – and incentivise greener decision-making. In 2024, ATP players Z. Bergs, F. Passaro and B. Shelton topped these rankings, directing a $100,000 prize grant to six charitable causes, which included reducing air pollution through Clean Air Task Force, to removing plastic waste through Ocean Cleanup.
Several players have begun embracing these tools, opting for train travel over short-haul flights, using commercial flights over private jets, staying in eco-certified hotels, or offsetting their tournament-related emissions by supporting accredited projects, and a range of UN Sustainable Development Goals. Publicly sharing this data not only creates accountability but also encourages fans and fellow athletes to follow suit.
These leaderboards are more than just a scoreboard – they represent a cultural shift in tennis where conscious choices are as celebrated as career titles. As the sport looks ahead, tools like this will play a vital role in turning climate awareness into measurable action.
Final Set: Where do we go from here?
As environmental pressures mount, the sport has begun to evolve: not just in isolated efforts, but in meaningful, collective, system-wide changes:
Players are becoming role models for greener habits
Tournaments are embedding infrastructure overhauls
Brands are embedding sustainability into design and production
Fans, too, are becoming more conscious, calling for greater transparency and less waste.
Tennis is more than a sport- it’s a global community with the power to inspire thousands. As the game continues to innovate and adapt, from eco-conscious equipment to green grand slams, the court is becoming a place where performance and planet go hand in hand.
The message is clear: sustainability is no longer a side issue – it’s part of the game plan.
Want to get involved? How to play your part in rallying behind sustainability:
Whether you’re a casual club player, or a lifelong fan, there are plenty of ways to support sustainability in tennis. Just a few of these include:
Choose eco-friendly gear and balls when available
Recycle old tennis balls through local collection schemes, or consider how you may be able to reuse ore repurpose these creatively.
Bring your own reusable water bottle to practice or matches.
Support tournaments and brands that prioritise sustainability
Advocate for greener practices at your local tennis club
Remember, every action counts. And when the entire tennis community moves in the same direction, that’s when real change can happen.
So, next time you step onto the court or watch a match, consider this: how green is your game?
