Serving up a tennis culture

Jingshan, a county-level city in Hubei province, is known as the "tennis city of China". With a population of about 650,000, it has more than 100,000 active players and hosted multiple national and international tennis tournaments.

One of the latest events was the national village tennis competition on Nov 1 at the Jingshan International Tennis Tournament Center with about 320 tennis enthusiasts from seven provinces, forming teams based on villages or communities. This event reflected the deep integration of the sport into the local culture. In October last year, the city held the first village tennis tournament, bringing players from various backgrounds, such as cattle ranchers, rapeseed farmers and retirees, to swing their rackets.