In this Thursday’s email we’re sharing:
Megan Collins of Cool Shiny Culture breaks down how the tennis aesthetic has slowly been gaining traction
In the full article, available for members, we detail:
Why tenniscore is resonating so much with audiences
3 insights on how tenniscore will continue to evolve and how brands, marketers, and creators can stay ahead of the curve
tracking tenniscore's rise: from niche aesthetic to cultural mainstay
In the Cool Shiny Culture Meso Trend Report released earlier this summer, my co-writer Kaley Mullin and I identified a trend we dubbed “Last Call for Pickleball.”
We’re calling it: this is the last summer to get cool points for pickleball, tennis, or any other country club-adjacent racket sport before we declare it officially RESIDUAL.
This is in reference to the annual surge of interest in tennis and the accompanying aesthetic that happens during the hot summer months. It’s also in reference to a framework we use to talk about trends called the culture curve. First, trends bubble up as emergent, with some hitting the big time, going mainstream, and becoming dominant. And in the final stage, they fade into either obscurity or the background of our culture - the wallpaper that’s been there so long it becomes less noteworthy. That’s what we call residual.
Right now, there’s no question about it, tennis and racquet sports in general are culturally dominant. Shoutout to Kaley for being the first person who alerted me to the growing sport of pickleball all the way back in 2020. From 2022-2024, it was the fastest growing sport in the US and opened up new product verticals. However, growth has slowed and there remains no official professional circuit. While we expect the fanaticism around pickleball to plateau, we believe that some aspects of tennis culture are here to stay.
TENNISCORE TIMELINE
With Wimbledon recently concluding and the US Open approaching, tenniscore feels like it’s absolutely everywhere right now. But this trend didn’t break overnight. It’s actually been bubbling for years:
Beyond the paywall…
Megan Collins dives into why audiences are connecting with tenniscore and where she sees it going, specifically:
3 reasons why tenniscore in particular is appealing to audiences and why the space is ripe for brands and marketers
3 insights breaking down where she sees tenniscore going from here, including the brands and creators who are already tapping into it
Why it matters:
Tenniscore isn’t just another aesthetic—it’s a cultural signal backed by real behavior. In 2024 alone, over 25.7 million Americans played tennis, marking an 8% year-over-year increase and the sport’s fifth consecutive year of growth. This isn’t just recreational momentum—it’s a shift in lifestyle branding. With rising visibility across live events, fashion runways, and influencer feeds, tennis culture isn’t just about serving looks, it’s about staying culturally fluent.
