Our program assists with the development of players in following ways:
- Bring our best players together to practice and play matches against each other
- Provide direct or supplemental coaching based on the player's developmental unit/need
- Develop a working relationship with personal coaches
- Impress upon the player the importance of physical fitness and off-court training
- Impress upon the player the importance of developing mental toughness
- Provide video analysis to improve technical aspects of the player's game
- Provide speakers on various topics in order to educate players and parents
- Provide play-off opportunities for wild cards
- Assist players with the proper balance of scheduling the appropriate level of tournaments (including exposure to international and pro circuit competition at a younger age.)
- The aim of our program is to develop a united national culture among players, personal coaches and our staff, so that American tennis can be the strongest in the world. The Elite Player Development Department is headed by, General Manager Patrick McEnroe, with the Men's Program directed by Rodney Harmon and the Women's Program directed by Jean Nachand.
The USTA currently has 20 national coaches, ten on the men's side and ten on the women's side. Each of these coaches is responsible for players born in a specific year or a group of professional players. In addition, when these coaches are not traveling to tournaments they work at one of our two training centers (Carson, CA and Boca Raton, FL) and train the players who are on-site. The list below details who the national coach contact is for the various age divisions.