The tennis community has taken a stand for college tennis after the NCAA Beach Volleyball was aired for more than seven hours on ESPN2. Highlighting the favoritism, tennis insiders and fans demanded the same exposure for college tennis.
The 2026 NCAA Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championships in Gulf Shores, Alabama, commenced on May 1 and will conclude on May 3. In the first day of the event, which featured the first round, eight hours of coverage on ESPN2 took place, covering all the 16 teams. Similarly, on day 2, during the quarterfinals and semifinals, almost seven hours of coverage on ESPN2 was aired.
While this kind of exposure is really a growth for college sports, it does not apply to every sport, including college tennis. After witnessing the favoritism for NCAA beach volleyball, the tennis community showcased outrage on X, voicing their opinions on college tennis being on TV. One of the tennis analysts wrote:
“Today, ESPN2 is airing seven straight hours of the NCAA beach volleyball championship. Beach Volleyball became an NCAA sport in 2016 and plays five simultaneous courts. So why is college tennis not on TV?”
The former player, Patrick McEnroe, also recently weighed in on the shrinking opportunities in college tennis.
“The elite American players usually find their way. The bigger issue is the overall numbers — and the shrinking opportunities for non-elite American players who used to see college tennis as a real pathway. That pathway matters. It mattered to me,” wrote McEnroe on X.
This garnered a fan’s attention who highlighted the lack of promotion of college tennis, writing:
“How do we get college tennis on linear tv for the biggest event of the year? The lack of promotion behind NCAAs also hurts the sports ability to grow and reach the families and kids in America. Hard for people to see the pathway if we don’t showcase it to the masses.”
Patrick McEnroe urged American college tennis to reduce international players
Patrick McEnroe, who is also an ESPN tennis analyst, recently discussed the need for American college tennis to reduce the number of international players on their rosters on Saturday, on his ‘Holding Court with Patrick McEnroe’ show. He highlighted the fact that the American universities need to focus on developing more American players, rather than adding more international players to their college tennis roster.
Revealing the statistics and emphasizing the urgency of introducing more American players, he said:
“Division 1 tennis is now the most international major sport in college athletics, roughly 64% international on the men’s side, 61% on the women’s side. So yeah, I think it’s time, everyone, time for the NCAA, time for conferences, time for lawmakers, if necessary, there has to be a cap on the number of international players in American college tennis,” said McEnroe.
The Arkansas university recently announced that it would drop its men’s and women’s tennis programs because of the new financial realities. In addition to this, Saint Louis, Illinois, North Dakota, and more announced the shutdown of college tennis sections.
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