Arum Akom will stop to take a breath when he’s sitting in the players’ box at Wimbledon watching one of his players on Centre Court. Until that day, you’ll find the 25-year-old tennis coach on court at The Butterfly Tennis Club in Camberwell, south London, where he runs a free bursary programme for local children, coaches juniors who dream of going pro and is raising the next generation of leaders via his new diversity initiative, Black Tennis Mentors.
Tennis is enjoying a post-pandemic global boom, and the sport – once perceived as white and middle-class – is changing. The number of people playing it are increasing: up 33% in the US between 2019 and 2022, with a 46% increase in black players.
In the UK, figures from a recent report by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) point to tennis as being one of the more gender-balanced sports with 40% of players female. That said, only 24% of accredited coaches are women. Similarly, 16% of players are from a diverse ethnic background, but only 4% of coaches, 3% of officials.
