Playing tennis alone or with others, anywhere and anytime: this is the principle of urban tennis. The concept is meant to be fun. “As soon as you have a ball and a racket in your hand, it’s tennis, regardless of where you practice, on a court, at the beach or in your garden, says Sylvie Delaspre, director the development of practices at the French Tennis Federation (FFT). We want to break with the idea that to play tennis, you have to find an opponent and book a court. »
Urban tennis therefore uses street furniture. “We play above a bench, a flower bed, against a wall. “Mini-courts can be graffitied, like 3 x 3 basketball courts. The rackets are smaller, the balls less lively and sometimes even made of foam. “This makes it possible to play in a building or company courtyard, in a parking lot or in an unoccupied place”, continues Sylvie Delaspre.
The FFT is currently developing kits, with a 3m pitch rolling out. “But you can perfectly draw a court with a simple chalk”, underlines the director. The idea is to trivialize the practice and above all to get people moving. “Whether you know how to play tennis or not, you can have fun,” continues Sylvie Delaspre. This also allows everyone to practice, whatever their age, including if they have a disability. »
“The wall gives way to the imagination”
In the same spirit, the federation is working on a concept aimed at rehabilitating the walls, in collaboration with the former French number one Isabelle Demongeot. Here again, the practice is trivialized. “The wall gives way to the imagination, you can invent all the possible rules, play against a virtual opponent,” explains François Duport, teaching coordinator at the FFT.
Sometimes abandoned, the walls take on new colors and also find their place in the urban tennis system. “The wall also becomes an educational tool again, it allows the child to repeat the gestures, the adults to maintain their shape”, we explain to the FFT. The federation hopes to capture new licensees. Even if the first challenge of urban tennis is to allow everyone to access a physical practice.