How Much Do Tennis Coaches Make?
Updated: Sep 3
As a Tennis Coach and Tennis Coach Educator, I often get asked how much money I can earn as a professional tennis coach.
My answer is, well, it depends! But you have lots of opportunities in the UK at the moment as Tennis is in a boom!
As tennis fever grips in the UK, so makes the demand for top-quality tennis coaching. A quick look at the Lawn Tennis Association job page: hundreds of clubs are now looking for tennis coaches.
It's not just on the court now that coaches are making a living, this is just a base salary with online and social media providing passive income. You only have to look at Serena Williams former coach Patrick Mouratoglou who is now a major player on the internet game. A large number of top tennis coaches and even top-ranked players are now making additional income online.
With such high demand and a limited number of qualified coaches, how much do tennis coaches in the UK earn?
I'm not talking about the coaches who are with the top players such as at the international level, WTA tour or grand slam level. These coaches will gain income from tournament winnings such as the french open. We all wish we were the next Nick Bollettieri or Toni Nadal but it won't be the path the majority of us go through.
But your average tennis instructor, the head coach who runs tennis lessons at your local club. These coaches are normally independent contractors with no endorsement deals or access to the best players.
This blog looks at the current pay rate for tennis coaches in the UK and breaks it down by region. From hourly rates to different levels of coaching, this blog has everything you need to know to establish a career in tennis coaching.
The Tennis industry has many ups and downs, let's check out the annual income of club coaches.
Quick Guide
6 Biggest Challenges Tennis Coaches Face and How to Over Come Them (Video)
How Much Do tennis Coaches Make: Professional Tennis Coaches
How Much Do tennis Coaches Make: Who Can be a Tennis Coach?
You don't need to be able to hit balls with Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal or have some wealthy parents like Patrick Mouratoglou to be a Tennis Coach.
You'll need to love Tennis and be a fan of the top ATP or WTA players to succeed. Former players, tennis enthusiasts, or they may have been persuaded to assist with the academies initiative by their collegiate tennis coach.
Wimbledon helps boost players' participation and the number of individuals enrolling on coach education courses every year in the United Kingdom.
Tennis Coaches need some ability in terms of Tennis Skills to visually demonstrate basic shots to help improve player performance. Even the average club tennis player can become a coach; you need tremendous transferable soft skills.
Top coaches will have three main pillars of excellence, communication, demonstration and organisation skills.
Check out my video on How to Complete the LTA Tennis Assistant Feeding Task.
So you love Tennis, have some basic tennis skills and excellent communication skills, can you earn a living from it?
How Much Do Tennis Coaches Make Per Hour?
Tennis coaches in the UK have an excellent hourly rate based on experience and qualifications.
Please look at our comprehensive guide to learn more about what you could earn as a tennis coach. The average tennis coach makes around £25-70 per hour, which is good pay.
A tennis coach's average pay is £28 net per hour, or £34,400 gross per year, which is £4,800 (+16%) above the national average. Pay for a tennis coach is around £15.10 per hour, and pay rates of over £100 per hour are possible.
Tennis coaching in the UK is generally self-employed; most tennis coaches are under self-service agreements and operate out of tennis clubs, parks and leisure centres.
Employed positions offer a fixed salary but are often reserved for commercial club tennis managers such as David Lloyd or Virgin Active. These salaries are low management level and often part-time roles.
On a part-time basis at David Lloyd, the average tennis manager earns just £12,000 basic salary. These occupations, which range from 8 to 20 hours per week, are frequently a combination of advertising and on-court responsibilities. These positions offer a pension, sick pay, and help with tax issues for you and employee benefits.
Roles within the national governing body, the Lawn Tennis Association, carry an average salary of £36,000 and are often admin-based roles.
If you're interested in a career in tennis coaching, be sure to do your research first and find the correct position that's best suited for you. Tennis clubs in the UK now operate multiple business models such as profit share, flat pay rates, or rental agreements.
Check out our YouTube Live on the 6 Biggest Challenges Tennis Coaches Deal With and How to Overcome Them
How Much Do tennis Coaches Make: UK Average Salary
Before you start racking up tennis coaching salaries like tennis superstars Serena and Roger Federer, it's essential to do your research. This will help you identify your salary potential and narrow the search to the correct region. Once you've found a coaching position you're interested in, it's time to crunch the numbers.
The salary range for tennis coaches in the UK varies depending on the region - from the high paychecks in the South of England and London to the lower wages in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Meanwhile, coaches in Wales often receive the lowest rates if paid out of all regions.
Make sure you know these salary ranges before applying, so you can be confident that you're not being undervalued.
Who knows? You could be on your way to becoming a tennis coach superstar!
I work with several tennis coaches across the world to help them build their businesses, increase their income and build better tennis programmes through online mentoring. Check it out below.
How Much Do tennis Coaches Make: Hourly Rate
Tennis coaches in the UK can earn a good salary based on their experience level and location.
Experienced Tennis Coaches or Professional Tennis Coaches earn the most money; Early Career Tennis Coaches earn the least.
A tennis coach with less than three years of experience may receive a net hourly average of £15.10 per hour.
A Top tennis Coach with 10-20 years of experience makes, on average, £57.40 per hour, whereas a mid-career Tennis Coach with 4-9 years of experience earns an average total compensation of £24.80 per hour. On average, tennis coaches with over 20 years of experience earn £39.20 per hour.
You don't have to be a great coach or a former professional tennis player to make a living from Tennis.
London is the best region to be a tennis coach, with high pay rates for coaches. As with any job, your location will determine how much you can charge your players for lessons.
The northeast of England has some of the lowest salaries for tennis coaches due to a lack of indoor tennis facilities.
How Much Do tennis Coaches Make: Tennis Lessons
Regarding tennis coaching, the pay range is high, but the hours required are also more significant. This means that group tennis coaching is much more popular than private coaching, which offers more opportunities to teach more people at once.
An average group price is between £6-12 per player, and you may get between 6 and 16 players attending your lesson, so the potential of £192.00 per hour! (16 x £12).
Private lessons range from £25-£70 based on experience and region.
How Can Tennis Coaches make additional income?
To boost their income, tennis coaches might do a variety of side hustles. See this article on how coaches may increase their income by nine guaranteed methods.
How Much Do tennis Coaches Make: Salary of a Professional Tennis Coach
The earnings of a top-flight professional tennis coach are unknown, as there is little data available. The best response is? Maybe not as much as you think.
Tennis coaches are faced with "low pay, long hours, and diva clients," according to a 2010 Wall Street Journal article, which asked if the job is "The Worst Job in Professional Sports?"
Slate explored the high expense of playing Tennis, as well as the cost of maintaining a coach, in a 2009 article:
“Coaches for players ranked below No. 150 might make $500 a week. If the player is in the top 100, his coach might get between $1,000 and $2,500 a week, plus 10 percent of the player’s prize money, plus bonuses. If a player jumps in ranking, for example, the coach often takes an end-of-year bonus. Coaches for elite players, like the players themselves, make millions.”
While coaching for a high-level player is lucrative, coaching for mid to low-level players is not, as these numbers have undoubtedly changed in the last decade. It's a challenging profession to recommend unless you're passionate about the sport.
The misconception is these coaches are on the highest salaries due to the percentage of players' prize money that is on offer but if you work with a lower-ranked player, these players' winnings are not that substantial.
How Much Do tennis Coaches Make: Conclusion
Tennis coaches in the UK are among the best-paid in the world. With average salaries of £37,000 annually, tennis coaches in the UK can earn a great living. This blog provides a comprehensive guide to tennis coaching salaries in the UK by region. Every part of the UK offers lucrative coaching opportunities from north to south. So whether you are looking for a full-time or part-time coach, our guide will help you find the right person for your needs.
If you make it on tour at a professional level, don't be banking on players' prize money or players' winnings, these too are tough times.
Thanks for reading!
If you want to make more income as a Tennis coach, let me help you! Get in touch with me today
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Written by Steve Whelan
Steve has developed thousands of tennis players and tennis coaches over the past twenty years as a coach and educator.
Steve had over 20 million social media views in 2022 alone.
Read About Steve's amazing career here
Contact Steve direct at steve@mytenniscoaching.com or www.mytenniscoaching.com
References
https://uk.jobted.com/salary/tennis-coach