As we look back on the year that was, USTA.com brings you a collection of our top feature stories from 2020. Follow the links below to read more.
Fort Greene Park showcases recreational tennis boom
Published in October, this story took an in-depth look at a tennis hotbed In Brooklyn, its public courts providing a shining example of the recent growth of recreational tennis in the U.S.
Read more about the bustling courts at Fort Greene Park.
Mobility Month: Revisiting college wheelchair tennis history
In May, USTA.com celebrated National Mobility Awareness Month by spotlighting some of the American players, events, influencers and trailblazers who make wheelchair tennis special. One of the highlights was a two-part retrospective on the genesis of collegiate wheelchair tennis, in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Wheelchair Collegiate National Championships, which would have been held in 2020.
Part I: Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Wheelchair Collegiate National Championships
Part II: Georgia State University assembles the first college wheelchair tennis team
Robin Montgomery's rising stock
As nationwide lockdowns continued into April, USTA.com caught up with top-ranked American junior Robin Montgomery, who scored a number of eye-catching results at both the junior and professional level in the months leading up to the COVID-19 shutdown.
Read more on the 16-year old NJTL product, who went on to make her professional Grand Slam singles debut at the 2020 US Open.
College tennis soldiers on
Despite the cancellation of the spring college tennis season, the collegiate game has continued to make strides in 2020.
Relaunched in October, the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s “Olympians Made Here” and “Paralympians Made Here” campaigns are designed to strengthen Olympic and Paralympic sport programming at the collegiate level. Hear from tennis stars like Jennifer Brady and Danielle Collins on the value of college sports.
Emblematic of the way the entire tennis industry has come together in the face of the pandemic, the USTA and ITA worked hand-in-hand for the ITA Fall National Championships, which were hosted at the USTA National Campus. Read more on the new format for the championships, piloted in 2020, which saw top juniors included in the draw and the addition of $20,000 in prize money.
In Memoriam: USTA mourns death of David M. Dinkins, friend of tennis and New York City's first Black mayor
Dinkins, former New York City Mayor and a 12-year member of the USTA Board of Directors, passed away on November at the age of 93. The 106th mayor of the city of New York—the only African-American mayor in the city’s history—Dinkins was a great friend to the USTA and to the sport of tennis. His unparalleled charisma, peerless wisdom, singular grace, and heartfelt compassion touched countless lives—and made every one of those lives better.
Read more on Dinkins' connection with tennis, the USTA and the US Open.
