September Spotlight of the Month: Athlete

Each month, USTA Oklahoma will highlight a player, a volunteer, and a NJTL (National Junior Tennis & Learning) or Adaptive Tennis Player. After selecting the 3 winners, we will sit down for a Q & A with the spotlight of the month. 

• Athlete-- Any player that has good sportsmanship & dedication to the sport, whether they are just starting out in a Team Challenge or they are a National ranked player we would love to hear who you would recommend from your team or facility 
• Volunteer--A person that has gone above and beyond for your facility or program.  
• NJTL/Adaptive Player--A player that has demonstrated hard work and dedication they have put forth in their program.   

The September athlete spotlight of the month is….

Kennedy Cox

Where do you play? 

I play at RH91 (Racket and Health 91) in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 

Where are you from?  

I was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I have lived here my whole life. I have been playing tennis since I was three or four but I didn’t start playing “for real” until I was nine. I started tennis at Philcrest with coach Tim Leos but when he moved to coach at Lafortune, I stopped playing for a bit. I didn’t get back into tennis until I met my coach to this day Jorgelina Cravero. I met Georgi because my mom was her doctor and I still wanted to play tennis so we tried it. I remember that for our first lesson I wifted the first three balls and then we slowed it down. We started with orange balls but I was got better pretty quickly and eventually started drills at RH where I met my best friends to this day. Tennis has been an essentially part of my personality and will be with me for the rest of my life. 

Favorite tennis memory?

My favorite tennis memories have been more recently getting to play on the high school team at holland hall and bringing in two state championships as a team and in one doubles freshman year and two doubles sophomore year. I have also helped coach at RH91 with little kids playing with red balls and though sometimes it’s hard, it is really fun to see the kids grow and get better over time.