USTA St. Louis Adds Sherry Taylor, Lori Divin to District Staff

Divin and a friend later took lessons provided by a local community college, but a few sessions in the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Coming out of Covid-19, Divin’s friend found a tennis teaching pro for the duo to take lessons from.

“We were then like, ‘How do we get on a team?’” Divin said. “We didn’t really know. We tried to ask around and see who all we knew. We looked at the USTA website. Somebody reached out to us and said, ‘Hey, we’re starting a beginner team.’ It helped I was doing it with a friend. We were each other’s buddy throughout the process.”

Divin is in her third year competing on USTA St. Louis teams. She captains an 18 & Over 3.0 Sunday women’s squad and plays on an 18+ 2.5 Sunday women’s team and an 18+ 3.0 Monday women’s team. Divin additionally plays on a 55+ 6.0 combined mixed squad during the summer.

“I am fairly new to tennis, and I have met some amazing people since I started playing,” Divin said. “I am looking forward to learning more about the tennis world.”

Sherry Taylor

In her adult program manager role, Taylor will predominantly work on leagues and answer player inquiries tied to league play. Her responsibilities include league scheduling and organization, Districts and Section Championships planning, and working alongside the USTA St. Louis Adult Fair Play Committee to revise rules as needed.

“I know a lot of people in the tennis world after I started playing again in 1999,” Taylor said. “I started as a 4.0 and play 4.5 — so I know people there — and play a little mixed. I’m excited to get to meet more people and work with more teams. It will be exciting to increase the reach of people I know and support those who are playing.”

Taylor grew up in Wisconsin and began playing tennis a bit before starting high school. She was planning on competing in volleyball in high school, but a friend convinced her to join the tennis team instead. Taylor proceeded to play one year of tennis at Washington University in St. Louis before taking an extended break from the sport.

She picked up tennis again in 1999 by joining drop-in play at Tower Grove Park near her home. Taylor got looped into USTA play and credited her captains throughout the years for their terrific leadership. She spent the last 12 years as desk staff manager at Sunset Tennis Center (now Vetta Racquet Sports Sunset), where she also helped form interclub teams. Taylor recently left that position to join the USTA St. Louis staff.

Taylor has competed on 18+, 40+ and 55+ USTA St. Louis teams. She has played on women’s squads, mixed teams and tri-level teams, and she qualified with her tri-level teammates for USTA Nationals at Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California. Taylor has also played World TeamTennis (now Impact TeamTennis) at the 8.0 and 9.0 levels.

Taylor can be reached at leagues@ustastl.com while Divin can be reached at playtennis@ustastl.com.