Love-all: Local couples to vie for National Husband and Wife Championship title

The USTA National Husband and Wife tournament returns to Overland Park, Kan., on Aug. 7-9, and the competition promises to be fierce.

The Level 1 tournament at Overland Park Racquet Club, a USTA Premier Facility, will welcome married or partnered couples to participate in high-octane doubles, with USTA Gold Balls on the line.

This year USTA Heart of America is featuring two local couples who participated in the 2025 tournament, highlighting their “meet-cutes” and tennis journeys as they prepare for the 2026 tournament.

Noah Axelrod and Rebecca Falkner Axelrod

Noah and Rebecca have played tennis for over 20 years. Rebecca, who is the executive director of USTA Heart of America, had an inspiring start to her tennis career and went on to play tennis in college. Noah started playing in high school and played Tennis On Campus at Clemson University.

The couple met while living in Phoenix, and let’s just say it’s true that love just hits you sometimes.

“We met at Phoenix Tennis Center during a mixed doubles practice,” Rebecca said. “Noah hit me in the head with a wicked kick serve, and I told him he owed me a drink. We had our first date 24 hours later in downtown Phoenix.”

Since that errant serve first brought them together, the couple has maintained their separate tennis careers, though a wrist injury sidelined Rebecca early in their relationship. However, over the last year, they have played in tournaments competitively, including husband-wife ones.

Tennis, they said, has done so much for them and their relationship, and it drives them to do what they can to give back to the community. They formed an ACEing Autism program in Overland Park last year after volunteering for one for two years while living in Phoenix.

“We love that we can play it together and what the sport has done for both of us,” Rebecca said. “We both have found our way by playing the sport and creating memories. We love giving back to the sport that gave us each other.”

Andy and Sonya Muller

The Mullers’ love story began in Argentina, where Andy is from. The company Sonya was working for acquired Andy’s company in the mid-1990s, and they’ve been together ever since and have two kids.

Growing up in Argentina, Andy got his start playing tennis on clay as a young teen. Sonya, on the other hand, started playing in her 50s but quickly fell in love with the sport. Now, tennis is something they play together.

“We still look for the few opportunities where we can play together, like this tournament,” Sonya said.

This year’s husband-wife tournament will be the Mullers’ third time participating. They hope to go far this year, especially after last year’s run ended due to injury. Aside from the tournament, the couple plans to travel to watch all the world-class tennis they can.

“We’ve been to the US Open many times, to Wimbledon once each and this year we plan to go to the Cincinnati Open,” Sonya said. “For our first year of retirement — coming soon — we want to go to all of the Grand Slams.”

When asked why they love tennis, Sonya said, “It’s a lifetime sport, and there is always something to learn.”