The NCAA men's and women's tennis tournaments kicked off Friday, but what should be a celebratory moment for the sport has been overshadowed by a wave of program cuts across Division I schools, driven by the evolving financial landscape of college athletics.
In just the past week, four universities have announced the end of their tennis programs. Arkansas led the way, revealing it would drop both its men's and women's teams. Saint Louis followed suit on Monday, Illinois State ended its men's program on Tuesday, and North Dakota closed its men's and women's teams on Thursday. Gardner-Webb had already announced in February that this would be its final season for both programs. Notably, Arkansas and Gardner-Webb are among the 64 teams competing in this year's men's NCAA Tournament.
This trend is part of a broader shift in college sports. The COVID-19 pandemic initially triggered dozens of program closures across all divisions. Now, with revenue sharing with athletes becoming a reality last year, many Division I schools are reallocating funds to support direct payments to athletes in high-revenue sports like football and basketball, leaving smaller programs like tennis vulnerable.
The numbers tell a stark story. In 2024-25, 237 Division I schools sponsored men's tennis and 304 sponsored women's tennis. However, an NCAA spokeswoman confirmed that figures for the upcoming 2025-26 season are not yet available, leaving the future uncertain for many programs.
The Arkansas decision, in particular, sent shockwaves through the tennis community. "We in the tennis world have sort of been battling this at the lower levels of college tennis, but not the big, bad SEC," said ESPN tennis analyst and former pro Patrick McEnroe on the WholeHogSports podcast. "The Division II schools and some of the smaller Division I programs over the years, you're always sort of on the lookout in the tennis community to fight and protect as many programs as possible."
The cuts come as youth participation in tennis declines and the number of international players on U.S. college rosters continues to grow. In 2006, the number of boys and girls ages 12-17 playing tennis was equal, at 1.1 million each, according to the National Sporting Goods Association. But shifting interests and financial pressures are now reshaping the sport at the collegiate level, leaving players and coaches fighting to keep their courts alive.