Happy Holidays from USTA St. Louis

As we reflect on an exciting year of growth, community engagement and increased participation, we are thrilled to share some key highlights from 2024. Your dedication and enthusiasm continues to drive our success, and we look forward to even greater achievements in the coming year.

Junior Tennis

• Junior Team Tennis experienced tremendous growth in 2024, with 22 divisions, 253 teams and 1,665 players—up from 19 divisions, 220 teams and 1,462 players in 2023. This expansion highlights the strength and vibrancy of our youth tennis community.

• We provided 80 junior tournament opportunities, giving young athletes a variety of platforms to compete, grow and excel.

• We published a new Junior Guidebook providing detailed pathway information and district regulations to help guide our young players on their tennis journeys.

Adult Leagues

• This year featured continued growth in our adult leagues. We introduced several new divisions, including a 65+ Men’s & Women’s 9.0 division, a Mixed 18+ 10.0 division and a Tri-Level High 4.0/4.5/5.0 Men’s division, allowing more players to get involved and compete at their level.

• Our adult social league for players under 40 (Set, Mix ‘n’ Chill) saw strong success with 113 players in our summer program, an increase from 91 in 2023. This league is now continuing during the indoor season with a series of eight-week sessions running from October 2024 through May 2025, ensuring even more opportunities for fun, social play for this age group. The current session began on Dec. 6, while there are upcoming sessions taking place February to March, April to May and end of May to mid-July.

Community Outreach

• The district provided $35,000 in grant funding to 17 different organizations, supporting initiatives such as wheelchair tennis, the Jensen-Schmidt Tennis Academy for Down syndrome tennis camp program, providing equipment and instructors for our CTAs offering tennis to underserved populations, and more.

• We introduced tennis programs to seven more schools in the St. Louis area this year: the Clayton School District, Epstein Hebrew Academy, Holy Redeemer Catholic School, Torah Prep, St. Justin Martyr School, Halls Ferry Elementary School and Living Water Academy. This expansion reflected our commitment to growing the game and making tennis accessible to more students in our community.

As we close out 2024, we are deeply grateful for your support and commitment to tennis in our district. We look forward to another year of growth, competition and community.

Please take time during the holidays to enjoy time with family and friends. We hope you can look back on 2024 with happy memories both on and off the court. Stay safe, stay warm and keep your racquets up!

Megan Kovacs

USTA St. Louis Executive Director