Althea Neale Gibson was an American tennis player and professional golfer, and one of the first Black athletes to cross the color line of international tennis. In 1956, she became the first African American to win a Grand Slam event. The following year she won both Wimbledon and the US Nationals, then won both again in 1958 and was voted Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press in both years. In all, she won 11 Grand Slam tournaments: five singles titles, five doubles titles, and one mixed doubles title. "She is one of the greatest players who ever lived", said Bob Ryland, a tennis contemporary and former coach of Venus and Serena Williams. "Martina [Navratilova] couldn't touch her. I think she'd beat the Williams sisters." Gibson was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame. In the early 1960s, she also became the first Black player to compete on the Women's Professional Golf Tour.
The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, from the grass-roots to the professional levels. The association was created to standardize rules and regulations and to promote and develop the growth of tennis in the United States.
Patrick William McEnroe is an American former professional tennis player, broadcaster, and former captain of the United States Davis Cup team.
Mary Carillo is an American sportscaster and former professional tennis player. She is an analyst for Tennis on NBC and a reporter for NBC Olympic broadcasts.
Amy Frazier is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She won eight singles and four doubles titles on the WTA Tour. On February 27, 1995, she achieved a career-high singles ranking of No. 13, while on March 29, 1993, she achieved a career-high doubles ranking of No. 24.
Lori McNeil is an American tennis coach and former top 10 player. McNeil was a singles semifinalist at the US Open in 1987 and Wimbledon in 1994, a women's doubles finalist at the Australian Open in 1987 with Zina Garrison and French Open mixed-doubles winner in 1988 with Jorge Lozano.
Ronald "Ronnie" E. Holmberg is a former American tennis player who competed during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He was ranked World No. 7 in 1959 and was ranked in the U.S. Top 10 for nine years. He is currently one of the USTA's select "Master Professionals" and devotes most of his time coaching, participating and directing charity events and clinics and other tennis related projects.
Scott Lipsky is an American former professional tennis player and coach. As a player, Lipsky was primarily a doubles specialist.
Meredith McGrath is a former professional tennis player.
Carrie Cunningham is an American surgeon and former professional tennis player who played on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Circuit from 1987 until 1994. She has served as president of the Association for Academic Surgery.
Mareen "Peanut" Louie-Harper is a retired American tennis player, born in San Francisco, California to Ron and Alice Louie. She was a top-ranked junior tennis player and professional tennis player on the WTA tour. She reached a career high singles ranking of 19 in the world in 1985 and doubles ranking of 31 in the world in 1992. She is currently the co-founder and program director of Harper for Kids, a youth character development program.
Julia Cohen is an American former professional tennis player. In 2001, she won the USTA National Spring Championships 12-Under Division Championship. In her career, Cohen won five singles and four doubles titles on the ITF Women's World Tennis Tour. On July 30, 2012, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 97. On May 13, 2013, she peaked at No. 121 in the doubles rankings.
Taylor Townsend is an American professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 61 in singles by the WTA, which she first achieved in July 2018, and she attained her career-high doubles ranking of world No. 5 in June 2023. A five-time doubles title holder on the WTA Tour, Townsend has also reached two major finals: the 2022 US Open and the 2023 French Open.
Jessica Kirkland is a former professional tennis player from the United States. Played on the WTA tour 2002–2009. Career high 151. In 2004, she was the Girls Singles Finalist at the U.S. Open in New York City, New York. Kirkland also won Wimbledon juniors mix doubles with Andy Murray. A highlight of her career was making the 4th round at Indian Wells in 2005. She dominated Marion Bartoli (FRA) 6–0, 6–1. She Had Numerous wins over players in the top 50 and top 25 in her career. In her career, Kirkland won a total of four ITF titles, of which three were in singles and one in doubles. As a junior, she was ranked #1 in the World (2005). Won The Girls 18's Orange Bowl & Easter Bowl. USTA National Hardcourt Girls 18's Champion. ITF Winter International Girl's 18's Champion 2004. ITF International Hard Courts Girl's 18's Champion. USTA Winter Nationals Champion Girls 14's. USTA National Clay Courts Champion Girl's 12's. When she was 13 years old, she was the #1 ranked 18-year-old in the United States by the USTA. Kirkland was ranked #1 in the United States in the 12's, 14's, and 18's (2000–2004). Kirkland went on the WTA Tour when she was 15 years old.
Sachia Vickery is an American professional tennis player. She reached a career-high of world No. 73 in the WTA rankings on 30 July 2018. Vickery, a former USTA junior national champion, has also won three singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Circuit.
Catherine Cartan "CiCi" Bellis is an American former tennis player. In early 2018, she was the second youngest player in the top 100 of the WTA rankings. Bellis has a career-high of 35, which she achieved in August 2017. She is known for winning a match at the 2014 US Open as a 15 year old against a top-20 opponent, making her the youngest match-winner at the US Open since 1996.
Viktoria Mikhailovna Belinsky is a former professional tennis player from Russia. Her highest WTA rankings were 168 in singles and 145 in doubles.
Joanne Wallen is a British born tennis coach and former professional player based in the United States. While competing on tour she was known as Joanne Moore.
Stacy Margolin is a former American professional tennis player in the WTA tour and the ITF world tour from 1979 to 1987 whose career-high world singles ranking is No. 18. In her eight professional seasons, Margolin competed in a total of twenty-five grand slam championships, which includes several appearances at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the French Open. She won a gold medal at the 1977 Maccabiah Games in Israel.
Hocker is a team sport developed in Fairfield, Connecticut, by attorney John Henry Norton. He first devised it in the late 1950s, then spent a decade refining it, then sought to promote it in the 1970s. He built a dedicated field on his property and hosted a weekly game there with his family and often a small crowd of participants and onlookers. The nearby Southport, Connecticut, chapter of the Boy's Club of America began a league for players ages 11 to 15, and by 1977 the Boy's Club league had spread to more than 1,100 affiliated clubs. Additionally, the sport came to be played in school systems in Connecticut, California, and Florida, and appeared as an intramural sport or clinic at several colleges, including the University of Bridgeport, Southern Connecticut State, and Miami-Dade Junior College.
United States 