USTA President Katrina Adams has been nominated to serve a second straight two-year term as the USTA Chairman of the Board and President.
Adams, a 12-year veteran of the WTA Tour, made history on January 1st, 2015 when she became the first African-American, first former professional tennis player and youngest person to serve as President in the organization’s 135-year history.
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The 48-year-old Chicago native previously served a two-year term as First Vice President of the USTA (2012-13), one term as Vice President, (2011-12), and three consecutive two-year terms as a Director at Large, (2005-10).
In an interview with Crain's published last month, Adams said she had three primary goals when she took over as USTA President.
"First, I wanted to grow the Hispanic base of players in America. It is the fastest-growing demographic in the U.S., yet it was one of the smallest demographics of players that we had," Adams told Crain's. "Second, I wanted to create an initiative to keep high school players engaged beyond their season. Many of these student-athletes are multi-sport, and we were losing out on them.
"Third, sportsmanship in our sport has gone out the door, particularly with our youngsters. A lot of it comes from coaches and parents who are saying that winning is everything. Our national tournaments have a player oath that they sign to demonstrate they understand the purpose of sportsmanship."
Since 2005 Adams has served as the Executive Director of the Harlem Junior Tennis and Education Program, a National Junior Tennis & Learning network (NJTL) chapter based in New York City.
Photo credit: Jose Argueta/The White House