Talk to any professional tennis player on the ATP and WTA tours and they’ll likely be candid in saying that the sport has afforded them countless opportunities that they wouldn’t have otherwise had: to meet new people, to see far-flung parts of the world, and to enrich themselves.
For the last 30 years, the USTA Foundation has endeavored to make tennis more accessible, in the hopes of helping thousands of youth from challenging backgrounds across the United States experience many of these same benefits. One of the signature events that helps advance this aim takes place each year at the US Open, where a robust roster of pros is again forthcoming—in sharing their time and talents not just with these youngsters, but the donors whose generosity makes it all possible, to help bolster the organization’s game-changing work in the years to come.
This year’s 21st annual pro-am, doubly special as it was coupled with other signature activations that celebrated the USTA Foundation’s milestone anniversary, welcomed more than two dozen former tour players, with the soon-to-be International Tennis Hall of Famers Bob and Mike Bryan, U.S. Billie Jean King Cup captain and former No. 1 Lindsay Davenport, and three-time US Open champion Kim Clijsters chief among them, and equal numbers of excited amateurs, to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center during the second week of the US Open’s main draw.
As they traded groundstrokes, stories and smiles, the magnitude of what the afternoon represented was not lost on the participants, particularly in light of the ongoing recognition of the USTA Foundation’s three decades of impact.
Brad Gilbert, a former Top 10 player who has also coached Grand Slam winners including Coco Gauff, Andy Murray, Andy Roddick to name a few, has participated in the event for 15 years—enthusiastically continuing to raise his hand despite his myriad of commitments that also include commentating.
“I think the first time I played this, we had 10 pros,” he recalls, marveling at how the buy-in from other top names in tennis has increased exponentially over the years. “Everybody is trying to do their part and help for this cause.
“The more that we can raise, the more that we can get kids playing tennis, and that's the goal: making sure kids can get racquets, have a place to play … I feel like if you get an opportunity to play tennis, it's one of the things that can help you for the rest of your life.”
Former world No. 4 Mary Joe Fernandez is also among those who wants to pay the lessons she learned on the court forward.
"Tennis has given me and afforded me so many opportunities. I feel like the characteristics of discipline, teamwork, sacrifice—you really get to learn [them]," she says. "The USTA Foundation does a really good job of supporting a lot of children and giving them an opportunity that's going to be good for them for the rest of their life."
"It's nice to see the support from the professional players ... that come support the event, and to see the amateurs hang with them and try to beat them is always fun, but it's for a great cause. At the end of the day, that's what it's all about."
Even more recent alumni of the tour are leaning in. New Jersey native Christina McHale, who retired from tennis just two years ago, first got acquainted with the USTA Foundation’s work while still an active WTA player, and says that seeing the impact that its signature sport-based youth development programs have on the next generation have inspired her to remain involved in the next phase of her life.
“I’m in awe of all of the work that [the USTA Foundation and its programs] do,” McHale says.