Grants
Overview
In addition to supporting American tennis players with services and wildcards, USA Tennis also provides grants to help ease the financial burden of competing at the highest level. USA Tennis grants are allocated based on merit and designed to enable players to more easily achieve their developmental goals.
There are three types of grants for athletes, totaling up to $40K for our highest achieving players:
Excellence Grants
- Allocated based on tournament results
Junior International Grand Slam Grants
- Allocated based on Junior Grand Slam attendance
Grant Eligibility
All players awarded any grants below must be eligible to represent the United States in Billie Jean King Cup and Davis Cup competition pursuant to the ITF Regulations which include the following requirements.
A Player Must Have:
- A current valid U.S. passport
- Lived in the United States for 24 consecutive months at some time
- Not have represented any other country in the 36 months immediately preceding the event
If a recipient of a USA Tennis grant later chooses to play for another country or refuses selection to represent the United States in international competition, they must immediately reimburse the USTA for all grant monies distributed.
Excellence Grants
In order to encourage the development of American players, we have designed USA Tennis Excellence Grant criteria to reward players for meeting milestones on the path to becoming a Top 50 player. Any U.S. player achieving the requirements listed on the applications below (based on the player's age) will receive a grant.
Players who meet one (1) of the criteria boxes will receive $3,000; once the player has met two (2) boxes, the player will receive $4,000 more; and once a player meets three (3) boxes, a player will receive $5,000. Thus, a player could earn a maximum of $12,000 in 2026 based on his/her performance.
Players will need to submit this form each time he/she meets one of the requirements listed on the applications below. These grants can be submitted throughout the year but before the deadline of December 15, 2026.
Men’s Excellence Grant Application
Women’s Excellence Grant Application
A player’s tournament result may only be used once for the requirements listed on the applications and will only result in receiving one grant amount for each tournament result criteria. To clarify, if a 15 year-old male player wins an ITF World Tennis Tour J100 event, they can’t use that to check off both “Singles Winner of an ITF World Tennis Tour - Junior Grade J60 event* or higher in USA” and “Singles Finalist of an ITF World Tennis Tour - Junior Grade J100 event* or higher Worldwide”. However, if a player is a finalist at multiple J100 events, they can submit the form twice and check “Singles Finalist of an ITF World Tennis Tour - Junior Grade J100 event* or higher Worldwide” both times.
Once a player is ranked in the Top 100 of the ATP/WTA Rankings, they will no longer be able to receive any Excellence Grants.
Development Grants
To reward players excelling for their age group, we have implemented Development Grants to help offset the costs of training and competing. Players are rewarded for having an ITF Junior ranking, ITA ranking, or ATP/WTA ranking consistent with the path to becoming a Top 50 player. Players who have an “On track” ranking or better for any of the below tours are eligible for up to $5K of grants per quarter (~$20K annually), and “Nearly on track” players are eligible for up to $2.5K per quarter (~$10K annually).
These funds are meant to serve two purposes:
- Subsidizing travel to Lake Nona for training weeks
- Subsidizing expenses associated with competing in tournaments (travel, lodging, and tournament fees)
To receive these funds, players must email brooke.austin@USTA.com requesting them and outline how the grant will be used towards the aforementioned purposes.
Diversity & Inclusion Grants
Players who are highly talented and come from an ethnic or diverse background are encouraged to apply for a USTA Diversity & Inclusion Grant.
Junior International Grand Slam Grants
USTA Player Development offers our top junior players a grant for participating in the main draw of Junior Grand Slams. The Player Grant amount for Australian Open Junior Championships, French Open Junior Championships and Wimbledon Junior Championships is $1,250.
Grants will be awarded to players who qualify for the main draw in singles of any of the above listed events. However, no grant is given for the US Open Junior Championships.
Players do not need to apply for this grant. A grant letter will be sent to the players after the completion of the first round of the singles main draw and a check will be sent out once the player has returned the grant paperwork. Players who are disqualified for any reason or who act inappropriately at the event will not be awarded a grant.
USA Tennis is also offering financial support to personal/private coaches who are developing our best young players to reach the highest level of international junior tennis. Coaches who travel with their player(s) to the International Grand Slams qualify for a grant of $1,250 for the Australian Open Junior Championships, Roland Garros Junior Championships, and Wimbledon Junior Championships. The purpose of this grant is to offset the travel expenses incurred by the coaches.
In order to receive the grant, coaches must meet the criteria listed below:
- Must attend the Australian Open Junior Championships, Roland Garros Junior Championships, and Wimbledon Junior Championships to assist his/her player
- Must make a living as a full-time tennis coach
- Must submit W-9 form
- Must submit the International Grand Slam Coaches Grant Application
- Must submit a copy of his/her flight itinerary
- Must be Safe Play approved. If you are not currently Safe Play approved, it can take up to 2 weeks to be approved.
Please note that a coach can only receive one grant per event. All applications must be submitted by Oct. 1, 2026.
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