Owning and operating a tennis center exposes you to several liability risks. For instance, the high physical exertion of your clients, employees, and instructors all increase the likelihood of injuries, damages, and unexpected claims. Obtaining a comprehensive range of insurance policies is key to financially protecting your tennis center from these unexpected events.

What insurance coverage do I need for my tennis center? 

Although there are several types of insurance coverages to consider, the following policies are particularly relevant for tennis centers:

General Liability Insurance

General liability insurance financially protects your business if you unintentionally cause bodily injury, property damage, personal injury, or advertising injury to a third party. As a tennis center, your clients are engaging in a number of physical hazards, increasing your liability exposures. If your tennis center houses locker rooms or showers, there is an additional risk for slip-and-fall incidents. 

General liability insurance also covers third-party bodily injury or property damage resulting from product liability. If your tennis center sells equipment or serves concessions, you could be held liable if a customer is injured or becomes ill.

In addition to these types of risks, general liability insurance can protect your business from lawsuits based on non-physical injuries. For instance, if you are accused of copyright infringement in advertising, slander, or libel, general liability insurance provides financial protection against these claims.

Examples:

• Bodily injury: A member of your tennis center trips and falls on the cracked surface of your outdoor tennis court and sprains her wrist. Your general liability insurance will cover medical costs and any legal fees if the member sues.
• Products and completed operations: Your tennis center has a juice and smoothie bar but does not properly list beverage ingredients. Unaware that his beverage contains nuts, one of your customers develops a severe allergic reaction that requires medical attention. He sues your business. Your general liability insurance will cover the legal fees of this lawsuit. 
• Personal and advertising injury: Your tennis center launches an ad campaign with a new business logo, unintentionally using artwork that is similar to a competitor’s. Your business is sued for copyright infringement.

Professional Liability Insurance

Professional liability insurance protects individuals and companies from the costs of lawsuits and damages related to their professional advice and services. A dissatisfied tennis student may file a lawsuit against your business for work errors, inaccurate advice, negligence, or even failure to deliver promised results. For instance, if one of your tennis instructors provides advice that leads to a client’s injury, you may be faced with a costly lawsuit. This is where professional liability insurance comes into play. 

Your tennis center may require clients to sign a liability waiver, but that cannot prevent all lawsuits or remove all liability—especially for claims of negligence. As such, it is crucial to consider professional liability insurance. 

Example:

• One of your instructors forgets that his student recently injured her ankle. During the tennis lesson, he pushes his student to her physical limits and the intensity of the session causes her to re-injure her ankle. She sues your tennis center for improper instruction. Your professional liability insurance would provide funds for the legal fees of this lawsuit. 

Commercial Property Insurance

Commercial property insurance provides financial protection for your business property, including buildings, equipment, furniture, and inventory. If your tennis center’s business property is damaged or destroyed by a covered peril, your insurer will provide financial support to assist your company in repairing or replacing your property. Commonly covered perils include fire, windstorm, hail, vandalism, and explosion. Because your tennis center heavily relies on its physical location and equipment, commercial property insurance is essential to protecting the value of your property.

Example:

• Overnight, vandals sneak into your indoor tennis facility and damage your courts, locker rooms, and equipment. Your commercial property insurance policy will pay for the repair of your facilities and replacement of your equipment.

Workers’ Compensation Insurance

Workers’ compensation insurance provides financial and medical benefits to employees who suffer work-related illnesses or injuries during the course of their work. This coverage includes the employee’s medical expenses, rehabilitation, and a portion of lost wages. Additionally, workers’ compensation insurance can provide funeral, burial, and death benefits for the employee’s surviving family in the case of a work-related death.

Because of all the physical activity that takes place in tennis centers, your trainers, instructors, and other employees are particularly prone to workplace injuries and long-term health conditions resulting from their work. 

Each state has its own regulations and requirements for workers’ compensation insurance. Depending on the state, you may find differences in the types of illnesses and injuries that are covered, specific benefits available for employees, the types of medical examinations required to verify claims, and protocols for delivery of medical care. As such, it is important to understand your state’s requirements to ensure that you have adequate coverage for your employees.

Example:

• During a tennis lesson, one of your trainers is hit in the eye by a tennis ball. He must seek medical attention and permanently loses some of his vision in the injured eye. Workers’ compensation would provide for his medical fees, rehabilitation costs, and disability income. 

Inland Marine Insurance 

Inland marine insurance covers products, equipment, and other forms of business property that are not tied to a fixed location and are not covered by commercial property insurance. If your employees transport equipment offsite to other tennis facilities or to customers’ homes for private lessons, you may want to provide protection for that equipment while in transit or stored off your business property. 

Bailee’s customer insurance is an important form of inland marine insurance to consider if your tennis center offers lockers or storage areas so that members can temporarily stow their personal belongings during their sessions. Your customers’ property is under your care, custody, or control, and you may be held liable if that property is damaged or lost.

General liability insurance excludes property that is under your care, custody, or control. Additionally, commercial property insurance coverage may not be sufficient in this case as the limits are typically low. 

Example: 

• A fire breaks out in your tennis center and damages the area containing customer lockers. The contents of those lockers were under your care, so general liability insurance will not cover the loss. Instead, inland marine insurance will provide the coverage. 

Additional Coverages 

• Business income insurance (also known as business interruption insurance) provides coverage for loss of income and operating expenses if your business must temporarily close to recover from physical loss, damage, or destruction by a covered peril. This coverage includes the business’s net profits and normal operating expenses such as rent, employee salaries, and taxes.

• Commercial crime insurance provides protection for businesses from financial losses resulting from criminal acts. This includes forgery, robbery, burglary, theft, and employee dishonesty. The inclusion of locker rooms in your tennis center increases the likelihood of theft. Additionally, your employees handle monetary transactions with the patrons of your tennis center and have access to your business’s cash registers. This circumstance also increases the likelihood of theft.

• A business owner’s policy combines several common types of insurance into one package. In general, BOPs commonly include general liability, commercial property, business income, and extra expense coverage. If you find that your company requires additional coverage, it is possible with some insurers to customize your BOP by adding specific endorsements. BOP is especially helpful for smaller tennis centers because premiums are typically less expensive than buying each type of insurance individually. 

Pricing and Quotes

Pricing for business insurance will vary based on the type of insurance coverage and the risk profile of your business. Insurers consider factors such as:

• Business size
• Industry
• Location
• Number of employees
• Claims history

Businesses with higher risks will have higher premiums than those deemed lower risk. For example, a tennis center with a history of frequent claims will face higher premiums. Premiums also rise as you increase the limits of insurance. Different insurance companies have different models for rating risks, so it is worth comparing pricing across different insurers.

In order to get an accurate estimate on pricing, it’s best to get a quote from a reputable insurance company. Below we’ve highlighted a few of our trusted partners who offer coverage for tennis facilities:

Provider	General Liability	Professional Liability	Business Owner's Policy
Embroker	??	??	??
CoverageSmith	??	??	??
CoverWallet	??	??	??
Hiscox	??	??	??
Thimble	??	??	??

Business Insurance and Coronavirus

COVID-19 has had a major impact on businesses, including tennis centers, and you may be wondering if your business insurance can provide assistance during these challenging times.

If you have business interruption insurance, the losses you’ve suffered from temporary closures due to COVID-19 are not typically covered. Unless your policy specifically includes coverage for losses caused by communicable or infectious diseases (which is rare), your business interruption policy will likely only cover losses caused by a direct physical loss or damage.

Workers’ compensation for COVID-19 greatly varies depending on the state. If your employees contract COVID-19 while working, they may be eligible for workers’ compensation payments in some states.

If a client or other third party sues you claiming that they contracted COVID-19 after visiting your business, some commercial general liability policies will provide coverage. Once again, this depends on your individual policy and the laws of your state.

Consult our FAQ on coronavirus and business insurance for more information.

Final Word 

Tennis continues to be an incredibly popular sport and although it is considered rather safe compared to some other competitive sports, many accidents and injuries regularly occur. These accidents can cause considerable damage to people and property, which is why business insurance for your tennis center is essential.