Celebrating Women’s History Month with Tennis Pro, Caitlyn Sagraves

As Women's History Month unfolds, it's the perfect opportunity to spotlight individuals impacting Oklahoma tennis in a positive way. Among those worthy of recognition is Caitlyn Sagraves, whose dedication to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is reshaping the landscape of the sport.

Sagraves serves as the vice-chair of DE&I for the USTA Missouri Valley, and chairperson for the Oklahoma District. Caitlyn and her team actively seek out programs that foster openness and inclusivity, while also providing educational resources to help grow initiatives such as the United States Professional Tennis Association’s (USPTA) Adaptive Task Force. In collaboration with the national organization, she is developing curriculum tailored to adaptive athletes playing with cognitive impairments or physical challenges. Caitlyn is also Director of the National Junior Tennis and Learning’s Play It Forward Tennis Foundation and works closely with Special Olympics Oklahoma to help train coaches and run competitions.

At Edmond Center Court, Caitlyn's dedication to outreach is evident, whether she's running junior programs, coaching USTA ladies' teams, or leading developmental programs, Caitlyn's passion for the sport shines through. However, amidst her busy schedule, Caitlyn's favorite part of her job remains being on the court, where she finds joy in helping others discover their love for tennis.

As we celebrate Women's History Month, here is a Q & A with Caitlyn Sagraves:

What is your favorite part of your job?

Just being on court (probably why I’m doing so much). I love helping people and seeing their excitement when they feel confident in something they just learned.

How did you get involved in tennis?

Actually, I grew up playing soccer. I was keeper and the goal got bigger and I stayed 5’2”. I didn’t particularly like playing other positions and I kind of knew because of my size I could not go any further in soccer than I had even if I got more skilled. So, I quit a sport I had been playing since I was 4 years old. I was too competitive to not play sports though so I think it was a combo of my high school English teacher needing players and living by Westwood in Norman. I just on whim decided to play tennis and loved it ever since. It has given me so many opportunities in life I would have otherwise never had. Such as going to college or even my job now.

Why do you like tennis?

I think that it’s entirely skill based. You can be short, slow, tall, thin, whatever and develop the skill to be good at it. There’s no ceiling to playing it based on physical limitations, everyone has their own sets of strengths and weaknesses and have to figure out how to win with what you have. I just think that’s incredible and unique to the sport.