Using Tennis As A Way To Give Back

As a tennis player, I often think about what happens to tennis balls once they lose their pressure. When I’m playing with these balls, I’ll just be like, “Yeah, they’re dead balls,” and throw them to the side but what really happens after that. The truth is that recycling tennis balls is very challenging, and the industry has not yet developed an effective solution. Each year, about 330 million tennis balls are produced worldwide, and a large number of them end up in landfills, where they can take over 400 years to decompose.

While tennis is a widely played and loved sport, the environmental issues associated with tennis balls are significant. I was looking into the issue and learned about impressive efforts by nonprofits that collect used balls in bulks and grind them into materials for products like footing in horse arenas and new tennis court surfaces. However, there is still a considerable lack of awareness within the tennis community about sustainable practices.

To start my initiative, I worked with my school’s varsity tennis team coach to collect used tennis balls at the end of the season and send them to RecycleBalls, a nonprofit focused on recycling. I then contacted local tennis clubs to raise awareness about the importance of repurposing and recycling. As more clubs expressed interest, I envisioned making a greater impact on the tennis community. With the help of my parents, who assisted in transporting the collected balls, I have seen the positive difference we can make in our community by giving back to the sport we love.

I also often see gently used tennis equipment being thrown away or put in a bucket in tennis centers for unused equipment after a short time. Tennis is not easily accessible to children in low-income communities, and I think every child should have the opportunity to experience playing this sport. This made me want to collect used tennis equipment and donate it to underprivileged children, trying to make tennis available to all.

This journey inspired me to create ‘Tennis4Ever’ (www.tennis4ever.org), an initiative aimed at promoting tennis as an eco-friendly sport. Our mission is twofold: to facilitate the recycling of used tennis balls and to ensure that the joy of tennis is accessible to underserved children. Together, we can build a more sustainable and inclusive future for this sport.

Vaibhav Venkatesan is a 16-year-old junior at Edison Academy Magnet School in Edison, New Jersey. He competes in USTA tournaments and is currently ranked as a nationally recognized 3-star recruit. As the #1 singles player on his high school tennis team, Venkatesan led the team to its first ever state (NJSIAA Group1) championship victory.