Eastern 3.0 team claims championship title at 2025 USTA League National Championships

When Karen Choi stepped up to captain a USTA League team for the very first time in March, she asked her fellow players to mark off the dates of the 2025 USTA League National Championships in their calendars. She did this, she noted, before the local New Jersey league even began.

“We were ambitious from the start,” she said of her team.

Big ambitions yield big results. Nine months later, Choi and her teammates—from West New York, N.J.—went on to lift the championship hardware in the 18 & Over 3.0 Women’s division during the third week of action at the National event, held October 24-26 at the Scottsdale Ranch Park Tennis Center in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was the second win in two weeks for an N.J.-based Eastern squad, after the section’s 40 & Over 4.0 Women’s representatives claimed the top trophy just seven days prior.

“It still feels surreal,” Choi said of the victory. “We’re incredibly proud of the achievement and grateful for the opportunity to play alongside such amazing women from all over the country. We were told that over 60,000 women and more than 3,000 teams competed in the Women’s 3.0 division nationwide. That’s a lot of competition!”

And competition that Choi never took lightly. Prior to traveling to Scottsdale, she decided to study 15 years of USTA League championship results to understand what might give her players a statistical advantage.

Still, having analyzed previous results, Choi understood that finishing atop the leaderboard in the round robin stages didn’t necessarily guarantee a spot on the podium at the end of the tournament. And USTA Southern California presented Choi and Co.’s biggest challenge of the weekend in the semifinals. Ultimately, doubles players Boyoun Kim and Irene Lee needed to fight through a third-set match tiebreak to secure the team’s spot in the final, 3-2.

“Southern California is a powerhouse region,” Choi said of the tense matchup. “They stacked their [lineups] with top players. [But] everyone on our team gave their all in every match. Also, having teammates who weren’t playing come cheer us on made a huge difference. It gave us the energy to push through and secure those three key wins.”

“We just formed this team this year, and for many of my teammates, it was their first USTA League experience!” she said. “Making it to Nationals was exciting, but winning it on our first try was something special. We can’t wait to build on this and aim for many more championships in the future.”

Of course, Choi reiterated that the weekend wasn't just about the big result—but the connections they forged along the way.

“A huge thanks to USTA for hosting these events and giving us the chance to meet and compete with women from across the country," she said. “We really appreciated the teams [from other sections] who cheered for us in the finals. Everyone demonstrated incredible sportsmanship, which made the experience even more meaningful.”