How USTA Tennis Venue Services elevated Barnes Tennis Center

The Barnes Tennis Center name does make explicit what is primary at this award-winning venue in San Diego—the sport of tennis—but it doesn’t completely explain what this multi-sport, community-service-centered health and fitness facility is all about.

Resources at the center—named in honor of former USTA and National Educational Tennis Foundation president George E. Barnes—include performance workout options of personal training, physical therapy and massage therapy; a trail for running; banquet rooms and on-site cafe; an educational facility with an Inspire360 Digital Learning Lab; four pickleball courts; seven padel courts; and, of course, 23 Laykold hard tennis courts and two red Cali-Clay courts.

Run by Youth Tennis San Diego, a 501(c)(3) with a lease from the San Diego municipality, this USTA Tennis Venue Services (TVS) grant recipient in 2019 and USTA Featured Facility in 2021 (and Racquet Sports Industry magazine's Municipal Facility of the Year in 2022) serves as a local hub for training and social play for thousands of San Diegans of all ages and levels, including wheelchair and adaptive tennis. Each year, its more than 60 tournaments and events include local and USTA national tournaments, as well as the San Diego Open, which draws the world’s top touring pros and international visitors to what a former mayor has called “America’s Finest City.”

Despite all that success—or maybe as a building block for it—Barnes’ management seeks advice on how to maintain and even improve on its top-notch status, and this leads to a strong and ongoing connection with USTA TVS.

Explaining why they have relied on this arm of the sport’s national governing body not just as a source of funding for resurfacing and other specific projects, but as a source of knowledge, CEO and general manager Ryan Redondo practically scoffs at the idea that a tennis or multi-racquet sports facility wouldn’t ask TVS for advice on infrastructure and plans.

“Tennis Venue Services provides experts in the industry,” he says. “They are top of the line, trusted and a true service-oriented group."

Todd Carlson, the USTA’s director of Tennis Venue Services, Parks & CTAs, explains his group’s role in fulfilling the USTA’s mission to promote and develop the sport at every level.