USTA St. Louis celebrates National Tennis Month with events, new courts

May was National Tennis Month, a monthlong celebration that featured a variety of opportunities for individuals of all ages and abilities to play the world’s healthiest sport. Within USTA St. Louis several fun-filled events were held as part of National Tennis Month, and ample more are coming up this summer for players to jump in on the action.

May kicked off with a pair of tournaments that took place the opening weekend of the month: the Level 5 Open Forever Tennis Summer Slam adult tourney and the Level 6 St Clair Girls Open junior tournament.

The Forever Tennis Summer Slam at Dwight Davis Tennis Center featured NTRP men’s and women’s singles/doubles as well as mixed doubles and open divisions. The second-ever rendition of the event—which won a USTA St. Louis award in its inaugural year—included large draw sizes in several divisions as a popular option for tournament competitors of all ability levels.

The St Clair Girls Open in O’Fallon, Illinois offered singles divisions for 12U to 18U competitors, and 40-plus juniors participated. The following weekend, St Clair Tennis hosted another tournament in the USTA Missouri Valley Level 4 Open 5’s, 0’s & Open adult tourney with 25 individuals registered to compete. Nick Mueller ran both St Clair tournaments.

Other tournaments that took place in May included a Junior Circuit and Level 7 at Forest Lake Tennis Club as well as the Level 6 Tiger Tennis Classic at Edwardsville High School and Liberty Middle School. A total of 139 players registered to participate in the annual, well-attended event run by Dave Lipe, which included singles and doubles divisions for boys and girls.

Another Level 6 junior tournament scheduled for May 16-18 was canceled due to an EF3 tornado that ripped through the area on May 16 and caused major damage to Dwight Davis Tennis Center. To read more about the situation and the ensuing cleanup efforts by staff and volunteers alike, click here.

During the morning prior to the tornado’s arrival on May 16, a ribbon-cutting celebration was held for the six new tennis courts that were recently completed on the campus of East St. Louis Senior High School.

The East St. Louis Community Tennis Association was vital in the courts being constructed, with grants from USTA National, USTA Missouri Valley and USTA St. Louis totaling $51,500 contributing to the cause.

The East St. Louis CTA also visited a fifth-grade class at Avant Elementary School to give away racquets, goodies and read a proclamation declaring May as National Tennis Month. The organization hosted its first-ever tournament at the new East St. Louis Senior High School courts on May 31.