How comfort with herself helps Megan Moulton-Levy shape tennis' next generation

“To be able to teach these kids and have no one get offended by that, it’s a pretty big deal. I can say that some of me has been fearful about what parents' response will be to me … but no one’s batted an eye. For my population of students who are gay, it's a really big deal to have someone like me in this position—not just in this position actually, but even just being around. If they're feeling a lot of shame and if some of them are confused, I give them the space to be who they are and who they want to be. I think that that's important for some of these kids.”

Moulton-Levy is likewise helping to shape tennis’ future through her role on the USTA Board of Directors. As one of three former WTA pros currently on the Board as Elite Athlete representatives, Moulton-Levy is part of a cohort that’s helping to build, foster and maintain a more inclusive and equitable environment for tennis across all levels of the organization.

“I occupy a unique space on the Board because I was an elite athlete and I played tennis at the highest level. But as I mentioned earlier, my mindset is all about the joy and the love of the sport. It happened to put me in a place to compete at the WTA level, but that's not at all what I wanted,” she says. “I feel like sometimes when you have people who've been high-level athletes, they miss the journey of becoming a high-level athlete: how it looks for other people, what it looks like to someone who's just beginning. What are their goals and how can those goals be transformed and morphed into bigger goals?

“I have a bottom-up approach to how I view tennis, my own story and everyone else's story, and the fact that I am still coaching and managing a performance operation. Former players are not often in this role to be able to contribute at this level on the Board. I think what I'm currently doing and my mindset towards tennis and the gift it has been in my life is a big part of the reason why I wanted to be able to give back to the tennis community at large.

"We're not making the daily decisions of what happens within the USTA, but just be an overall guide to the direction that the organization is moving, with an emphasis on grassroots and building relationships between all the different sectors of the USTA. [We're asking], what is everyone's place? What are the relationships between all of these different sectors and how do we really impact the growth of the game?”

“It’s a multi-year process,” she adds. “Some of these systems and processes are going to take a while to implement. ... What I can say is that it's a big part of the conversation in a way that it hasn't been in the past. “I've only been involved with the organization at this level for three years, but I can tell you that in the past three years, I think our whole country has been encouraged to look at this a little bit differently.

“When we talk about diversity, equity, inclusion, some people feel isolated from the conversation and even being able to talk about that … that's an important part of the conversation. There’s a lot of intentional effort and input happening. It’s not something where you're coming up with some grand solution to really highlight diversity and encourage a diverse set of participants to join our sport. What we as an organization are trying to do is figure out what the best practices are, and then see if some of those practices can be implemented within our structure. That’s the goal and the hope.”