USTA Southern California, formerly known as the Southern California Tennis Association, is one of 17 sections that make up the United States Tennis Association. [1] Each non-profit section represents various geographic locations around North America with the goal to support players and promote the growth of tennis across the United States. [2] [3] USTA Southern California has 40,000 members and more than 2,000 member organizations or tennis facilities. It consists of a staff of 32 and is headquartered on the campus of the University of California Los Angeles in Westwood, California, home of the Los Angeles Tennis Center. [4] Currently, Southern California's top junior tennis players train in Carson, California, the home to the USTA Training Center – West. [5] The Southern California section includes areas from the coast of San Diego to the south to the Central Coast to the north extending to San Luis Obispo County, east to Bakersfield, and including the Inland Empire and the Coachella Valley. USTA Southern California works with various organizations such as the City of Angels to provide free adaptive and wheelchair tennis lessons throughout Southern California. [6] Southern California resident Brad Parks is largely credited with starting the sport of wheelchair tennis in the mid-1970s after suffering a skiing accident. [7]
The Southern California Tennis Association held its first tournament in 1887 in Santa Monica. [8] The first men's singles champion was William Henry Young, who won both tournaments contested in 1887, one at the Casa Blanca Club in Riverside, and the other at the Casino courts in Santa Monica. [9] The USTA Southern California is a major sponsor of the Ojai Tennis Tournament. Started in 1896 by William Thacher, The Ojai continues today in Ojai's downtown Libbey Park, a public facility where freshly squeezed Orange juice and tea are still served each afternoon during tournament matches. [10]
The Pacific Southwest Tennis Tournament was first played at the Los Angeles Tennis Club in 1927 and won by Bill Tilden. [11] [12]
In anticipation of the 1984 Olympics taking place in Los Angeles, UCLA and the SCTA combined to build a new tennis complex that would be used for the Olympic matches, the Bruins tennis team and the Los Angeles Open men's event. [13] The SCTA, UCLA and the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee combined to raise funds for the building of the Los Angeles Tennis Center. [14] For many years the L.A. Tennis Club was the home of the Southern California Tennis Association offices before moving to the UCLA campus.
In 1986, the SoCal Tennis Foundation was founded as the charitable arm of the USTA Southern California. Its mission is “To advance the enjoyment, awareness, and participation of tennis to make a positive impact on communities and the lives of people of all ages, ability, ethnicity, and economic background in Southern California.” [15] In the early part of 2021, USTA Southern California announced the hiring of former Pete Sampras and Roger Federer coach Paul Annacone to help develop top junior players into future pros. [16]
USTA Southern California hosts many junior, collegiate, open-level, professional and senior tournaments throughout the year. Formerly the Pacific Southwest Championships, the men's ATP Los Angeles Open was sold to a group from Colombia in 2012. [17] The women's WTA Southern California Open was also sold and was relocated to Tokyo, Japan in 2014. [18] In 2019, the USTA Southern California created the Signature Series consisting of eight tournaments and promoted as the “Grand Slams" of SoCal. [19] They include: Tennis On Campus Sectional Championships (February), International Open of Southern California – IOSC (March), Southern California Super-Sectional Championship (Spring), Southern California Junior Sectional Championships (June), Open Sectional Championships (July), Southern California Intercollegiate Championships (October), Junior Doubles Sectional Championships (November), Final 8 Junior Masters Championships (November). In 2021 it was announced that tennis manufacturer Tecnifibre would become the official ball sponsor of the Signature Series. [20] Other notable tournaments past and present include:
May Sutton Bundy was Southern California's first big international tennis star. A U.S. Nationals champion at age 17, Sutton in 1905 became the first American player to win Wimbledon. [27] The 1930 and 1940s gave way to prominent players such as Gene Mako, Jack Tidball, Joe Hunt, Jack Kramer and Bobby Riggs, who all groomed their games at the Los Angeles Tennis Club under the guidance of “Mr. Secretary” Perry T. Jones. [28] Stan Smith of Pasadena, California, and Billie Jean King of Long Beach, California, [29] both played their college tennis in Southern California for USC and Cal-State Los Angeles, respectively. King famously beat 55-year-old Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes in 1973. [30] The USTA National Tennis Center is named after King and is the home of the US Open and Arthur Ashe Stadium, named after the former UCLA star from the 1960s. During the tennis boom in the 1970s, the Kramer Club in Rolling Hills Estates, Calif., was home to champions such as Tracy Austin, Pete Sampras and Lindsay Davenport. [31]
Sisters Venus Williams and Serena Williams were raised on public courts in Compton, Calif., and have gone on to record-setting careers. [32] In the summer of 2020, the all-time winningest doubles team in the history of tennis Mike and Bob Bryan from Camarillo, Calif., announced their retirement from tennis. [33]
USTA Southern California is home to many of the top tennis players in history and former Grand Slam champions. There are currently 94 members of the USTA Southern California Hall of Fame, which includes 2015 inductees Lindsay Davenport and Michael Chang. [34] The last induction ceremony took place in 2017 and included the likes of “The Rocket” Rod Laver, Bobby Riggs and longtime executive director Henry Talbert. [35] There is also a USTA Southern California Senior Tennis Hall of Fame. Previous notable inductees include Bob Sherman, Dodo Cheney, Ben Press, and Evelyn Houseman. [36] The annual junior sportsmanship awards are named after Houseman. [37]
Year | Inductees |
---|---|
2017 | Jim & Annette Buck, Debbie Graham, Rod Laver, William Kellogg, Robert Kramer, Stella Sampras, Ken Stuart, Helen Pastall Perez, Herb Flam, Bobby Riggs, Henry Talbert |
2015 | Kathy Bryan, Wayne Bryan, Jeanie Buss, Jerry Buss, Bill Rombeau, Brain Teacher, Pam Teeguarden |
2013 | Vic Braden, Michael Chang, Lindsay Davenport, Rick Leach, Gilbert Shea, Kathy Willette |
2011 | Pat Canning Todd, Dorothy Head Knode, Billie Jean King, Franklin Johnson, Dick Leach, Billy Martin, Kathy May Fritz, Hugh Stewart |
2009 | Robert Falkenburg, Peggy Michel, Bob Lutz, Robert Lansdorp, Patricia Yeomans, Stan Smith |
2007 | Darlene Hard, Gussie Moran, Charlie Pasarell, Dennis Ralston, Ted Schroeder, Pam Shriver |
2005 | Tracy Austin, Glenn Bassett, Beverly Baker Fleitz, Pancho Gonzalez, Pancho Segura |
2002 | Louise Brough Clapp, Jon Douglas, Carl Earn, Allen Fox, Karen Hantze Susman |
2000 | Alex Olmedo, Brad Parks, Leonard Straus, George Toley |
1998 | Joe Bixler, Jack Kramer |
1992 | Dorothy Cheney, Joe Hunt, Robert J. Kelleher, William S. Kellogg, Gene Mako, Alice Marble |
1976 | Ethel Sutton Bruce, Violet Sutton Hope-Doeg, Elizabeth Ryan, Florence Sutton |
1973 | William Henry |
1972 | May Sutton Bundy, Ellsworth Vines |
1971 | Eloise Watson Bekins, Claude Wayne |
1970 | Perry T. Jones |
1969 | Maureen Connolly, Maurice McLoughlin, Rafael Osuna |
1968 | Alphonso Bell, James Bettner, Tom Bundy, Edward Dickson, Marion Jones Farquhar, William May Garland, Grace Gilliland, Isaac Jones, Crawford Kent, Simpson Sinsabaugh, Reese Taylor, William Thacher, Archibald Way, Gerald Young, William Young |
The USTA Southern California headquarters will move to the Carol Kimmelman Athletic and Academic Campus to be built on 90 acres in Carson, Calif. [38] Carol Kimmelman was a former USC walk-on who was on the Trojans’ 1983 national championship team. [39] Kimmelman was an educator, before her death from ovarian cancer in 2017. [40] The state-of-the-art academic center will feature multiple tennis courts and will also include full-size soccer fields, basketball courts, track and field, fitness and play areas.
The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women was founded in 1971 to govern collegiate women's athletics and to administer national championships. During its existence, the AIAW and its predecessor, the Division for Girls' and Women's Sports (DGWS), recognized via these championships the teams and individuals who excelled at the highest level of women's collegiate competition.
Marion Anthony Trabert was an American amateur world No. 1 tennis champion and long-time tennis author, TV commentator, instructor, and motivational speaker.
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.
Julie Anthony is a former professional American tennis player of the 1970s. She played college tennis at Stanford University. Her coach for many years was Ray Casey.
Allen E. Fox is an American former tennis player in the 1960s and 1970s who went on to be a college coach and author. He was ranked as high as U.S. No. 4 in 1962, and was in the top ten in the U.S. five times between 1961 and 1968.
Glenn Noble Bassett was an American tennis player in the mid-20th century who later would be one of the most successful college tennis coaches of all time.
The Los Angeles Tennis Club (LATC) is a private tennis club opened in 1920 that was the host of the Pacific Southwest Championships from 1927 until 1974 and 1980 until 1983. It is located at 5851 Clinton Street, between Wilcox and Rossmore, one block south of Melrose Avenue. It is currently the home of the Southern California Championships.
Herbert Flam was an American tennis player who, in 1957 was ranked by Lance Tingay as the World No. 4 amateur.
Charles Manuel Pasarell Jr. is a Puerto Rican former tennis player, tennis administrator and founder of the current Indian Wells tournament. He has also commented for the Tennis Channel and with Arthur Ashe and Sheridan Snyder formed the National Junior Tennis League. He was ten times ranked in the top ten of the U.S. and No. 1 in 1967 and world No. 11 in 1966. Representing the United States as a player, he has been heavily engaged in the administration of the professional game from the inception of the ATP in 1972 and has been Vice President when he was still playing and until recently on the Board of Directors representing the Americas tournaments. In 2013, Pasarell was elected into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
The Los Angeles Tennis Center is a tennis facility located on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles in Westwood, Los Angeles, California. The center opened May 20, 1984, and hosted the demonstration tennis event of the 1984 Summer Olympics. The UCLA Bruins tennis teams moved to the facility in 1985 (men) and 1997 (women). The NCAA Women's Tennis Championships were held at the LATC in 1984, 1987, and 1988, and the Men's Championships took place there in 1997.
Lester Cook is an American former professional tennis player.
Carl Earn was an American tennis player who competed on the amateur and professional circuits in the 1940s and 1950s. He reached as high as world No. 7 in the professional ranks in 1946.
Ben Press was an American tennis player, coach, and writer, known for his involvement in World Team Tennis, his connection with the Hotel del Coronado, and as teacher of tennis standouts such as Maureen Connolly and Karen Hantze Susman.
Geoff Abrams is an American former tennis player.
Perry T. Jones was an amateur tennis official who was a major fundraiser for the Los Angeles Tennis Club and its tournaments. He took control of Southern California Tennis in 1930s and ran the Pacific Southwest Championships, the second most prestigious tournament after the U.S. Championships. He became one of the most powerful officials in tennis because most of the good players were developed in Southern California.
The Cal State Fullerton Titans women's tennis team competes at the NCAA Division I Collegiate level and is a member of the Big West Conference. All home collegiate tennis matches are played at the California State University, Fullerton, Titan Courts, located in Fullerton, California.
Jimmie McDaniel was an African-American tennis player. He was a four time American Tennis Association singles champion. He was said to be the "greatest black player of the pre-war (WWII) era." He was a lefty and was about 6 ft 5 in tall.
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.
Tennis on Campus (TOC) is the national collegiate club tennis league operated by the United States Tennis Association (USTA). The league is played on hard courts in World TeamTennis format. 370 colleges throughout the 15 USTA geographical sections nationwide compete in the league.
The Ojai Tennis Tournament, often shortened to The Ojai, is an annual tennis tournament in Ventura County, California, headquartered at Libbey Park in downtown Ojai, about 80 miles (130 km) north of Los Angeles. The event, first held in 1896, is the oldest and largest amateur tennis tournament in the United States held in one location.