National

USTA Coaching: Raising the Game

August 13, 2025

USTA Coaching may well be the most significant initiative in tennis in decades. After years of speculation, the USTA is getting into the tennis provider education and certification realm, reaching tennis providers, high school coaches, volunteers, and parents right through to the highest levels of teaching professionals.

This comprehensive effort has been spearheaded by Craig Morris, the chief executive officer for USTA Coaching. Racquet Sports Industry magazine editor Peter Francesconi caught up with Morris recently to talk about this groundbreaking initiative, which launched on Aug. 13.

Why has the USTA created USTA Coaching?

Morris: Coaches are fundamental to growing tennis and to achieving our goal of 35 million U.S. players by 2035. They are part of the three pillars to grow the game—coaches, players and facilities—and are simply foundational for growth in local communities. Coaches drive players and programs, they staff facilities and drive revenue. Ultimately, they're the sport's biggest prized asset.

As the national governing body of tennis in the U.S., it is paramount that the USTA invest in coaches, support them, reward them and become their greatest partners in what they're doing locally. They should have everything at their fingertips to be able to deliver the greatest and best experiences for players, to engage new players and retain current players. So, it is foundational that the USTA has made this decision to create USTA Coaching.

We all know the idea of the USTA educating and certifying tennis coaches has been talked about for decades. And while we certainly respect the past, we're making this decision to protect the tennis coaching industry and, therefore, to protect and ensure the game for decades to come.

Who will USTA Coaching impact and benefit?

Morris: This is going to be incredibly impactful for the industry as a whole. As the national governing body, we’re entering this marketplace around education for ALL deliverers, whether parents, volunteers, high school coaches, staff pros, directors of tennis, all the way through to certified professionals and above. This is for everyone who delivers the game of tennis.

We realize we’re not going to solve all the problems in the first few months, but understand that this is, and will be, a decades-long effort. The USTA is investing resources, money, people, benefits and services into what we believe is the most important asset in growing the game, and that’s the people who deliver it.

But while the USTA is driving this—yes, our brand is on it—at the end of the day, this is not about the USTA. This is about tennis coaches. This is about what's important for them and giving them the support they need to be able to grow tennis. This is about the industry.

What areas does USTA Coaching affect?

Morris: Our commitment to coaches spans ALL aspects: education, training, resources, recruitment, benefits, careers and more.

Research shows that people aren’t attracted to coaching as a career anymore, and we need to change that, we have to rebuild this as a career. We need to work with facility owners and operators to put value on coaches who are educated and have a growth mindset. We are working through value propositions for facility owners and operators to complement what we're doing for coaches because they are interconnected.

We have to rebuild this industry, and it is paramount—now—that the USTA makes this decision to get engaged. We MUST be concerned about what this industry is going to look like in 20 years. We need to protect and support coaches now.

At the same time, while we talk a lot about professional coaches and certification, with USTA Coaching there is as much energy going into educating parents, volunteers, school staff etc. to deliver tennis—providers who are not coaching tennis full-time. We are starting to do a lot of work on shifting the narrative, where we broaden tennis participation and interest in this industry by having parents help introduce their kids to tennis.

How will USTA Coaching be structured?

Morris: USTA Coaching will have four tiers: Baseline, which is free; Rally, which is $49 a year; Pro, at $149 a year; and Pro Plus, at $249. Each tier is aimed at a specific category, from Baseline, which is geared to parents, teachers and volunteers, through to Pro Plus, for full-time teaching pros looking for insurance coverage and other benefits.

All tiers offer benefits, services and education to USTA Coaching participants, including equipment discounts that start at 20 percent for Baseline and go to 50 percent for Pro and Pro Plus. [All participants must be Safe Play approved to receive discounts and benefits.] Other benefits are extensive, including comprehensive education offerings. At the Pro and Pro Plus levels, insurance comes into play, even tele-health and a health insurance concierge.

USTA Coaching

We will be offering “office hours,” where we’ll have coach developers around the country available to answer questions, give advice, career counseling, and more. Pro-level participants will have a heavily discounted registration to USTA Coaching conferences—and by the way, in 2026 we’ll be relaunching during the US Open, what we used to call the “Tennis Teachers Conference.”

There will, of course, be requirements for each level—for instance, you can’t necessarily be a high school player and sign up as a Pro to get the equipment discount. The Pro levels are to reward those who are doing this full-time or working toward that point.

This is a lot, but we feel it’s just a starting point. We did a lot of research, focus groups and surveys, and what coaches tell us they want is equipment, clearly insurance, they want drills and activities and education.

[Note: For those who sign up through December 2025, there will be a 20 percent discount off each of the three tiers.]

Talk about the education part of USTA Coaching.

Morris: We've really been intentional and inclusive with regards to how we structure our education. We want to make sure that it's easily digestible, so it's more modular. To a certain degree, people can build their own pathways. And we're making sure that the language we use will enable coaches to be recognized back to the industry and to consumers, so everyone can understand what they've accomplished.

So, basically, we’ll have a badge structure that will feed into certification. The badges are earned by completing six online modules, each no more than 20 minutes.

These badges are great entry points—they’re short, flexible and you can earn them at your own pace. They’re designed for coaches, parents, volunteers, PE teachers, high school staff, people just starting out in this industry. They cover many areas of this business. The education behind these badges has been created by some of the best in the industry.

For example, we have a badge that is for parents who want to introduce their kids to tennis. So, six online 20-minute modules give you lots of activities to do with your kids down at the park. There's a badge for high school coaches—how to run practice, activities, structure, training, all of that.

We have education and badges on the business of coaching, adaptive tennis, wheelchair tennis, being an inclusive coach, youth development, understanding competition, understanding the levels of USTA tournaments, ratings and ranking, advocacy, working at and running a summer camp, how to find the right racquet for players, stringing, racquet service, working in a park & rec, starting a CTA, empowering girls and so much more.

We’ll cover dozens of areas, and we know if there are gaps, we can quickly go and get subject matter experts, build out the content, and create new badges. We can be very agile, reacting to feedback and giving the industry what it needs and wants.

What are the certification elements to USTA Coaching?

Morris: The badges will lead to professional certification—if that’s the career path you’ve chosen. “Certification” indicates you've obviously taken a deeper dive into education. We want certification to reflect experience, leadership and commitment to higher standards. Clearly, if you're looking for full-time employment, this is the track you'll be on.

We have three levels of certification: USTA Coaching Professional, which will show that you have a solid tennis coaching foundation; USTA Coaching Specialist, indicating an advanced focus on certain player groups or age levels; and USTA Coaching Master, the highest level of tennis coaching expertise.

A USTA Coaching Professional is a coach who is part-time or full-time, has completed core education, junior and adult development, etc. Beyond the core education units, you’ll also choose from the badges, or “electives,” if you will. It’s a model that you can build, based on what’s important to you and your career.

For a USTA Coaching Specialist certification, we’ll have streams around each specialty, for instance, a performance stream, a business stream, and a development stream. The USTA Coaching Master certification will also have education requirements and electives. It won’t just be something given to coaches based on years of experience; it’s a program you need to progress through. So, based on the stream you’ve chosen, you can position yourself back to the industry as, for instance, a Master development coach, or a Master performance coach.

What is the in-person part of this education process?

Morris: The face-to-face part of certification will be handled by our Coach Developer Program, which we’ve been running for many years and will be building out even more, with more trained personnel and more education centers around the country.

To be able to deliver the face-to-face training—any face-to-face training in the U.S. with the USTA Coaching brand—you will need to be comprehensively trained through the Coach Developer Program. And then ultimately, you'll be licensed by USTA Coaching to be able to deliver USTA Coaching courses in person around the country.

We know how important that coach developer role is in creating the environments for new coaches coming in. We want our coach developers to have great personalities, high energy, enthusiasm and be great ambassadors for the industry.

What sort of testing is involved?

Morris: We recognize that coaches bring varying levels of knowledge and practical exposure to the learning process and therefore need multiple entry points to grow effectively. USTA Coaching will integrate diverse assessment methods, ranging from traditional knowledge checks (e.g., true/false, multiple-choice, matching) to more immersive formats, such as reflection prompts that ask coaches to analyze coaching behaviors in practical video scenarios. These formats will test recall and also encourage observation, application and deeper understanding of athlete-centered coaching principles.

We’ll also expand the use of innovative tools, such as role-play scenarios powered by AI avatars, to provide a non-intimidating, soft-landing experience where coaches can practice decision-making and communication. In-person workshops feature portfolio assignments, where coaches complete written tasks and submit video evidence of on-court instruction to demonstrate real-world application.

As coaches progress to more advanced levels, such as the Applied Coaching Skills badge, assessments will require deeper reflection, real-time tactical/technical application, and structured portfolio submissions.

Between the online education and in-person courses, this sounds like a lot to manage.

Morris: Everything will be housed in one central place—our Learning Management System (LMS). The LMS, which will be available in Q4 as part of our staggered launch, will be constantly dropping new content and badges as we evolve. We will be continually dropping new modules based on what is being requested by the Industry. We will also be licensing great content from experts in the chosen field, we have modules from Positive Coaching Alliance and Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport ready for our launch. We will facilitate excellence from all parts of the country. By having this all housed in the LMS, we can reward and recognize everything the coaches complete back to the industry.

All the education and badges will sit on the LMS, along with all registrations for in-person courses, and many other things, too. There will also be a huge resource center. We plan to have message and discussion boards, a job board, events calendar, social channels.

Where is USTA Coaching getting its curriculum?

Morris: We have had subject matter experts from across the industry that have built out the content for USTA Coaching—we haven't done that internally. I have to give a big shout-out to Butch Staples, who has been instrumental in helping to drive our education and the courses and modules we’ll use.

Of course, there have been many other industry leaders who have had input into the development of the pathways and content, such as Jorge Capestany, Ajay Pant, Kim Bastable, Scott McCulloch, Simon Gale, Brian Parkkonen to name just a few.

Our education is going to have really great context to it. Based on extensive research, the comprehensive nature of our education will position USTA Coaching far differently to what’s been going on in this industry. It will be specific for people to be able to choose and create their own journey in this industry.

So, what’s the timing for rolling out USTA Coaching?

Morris: Not everything is dropping at once. We officially launched to providers on Aug. 13, which is when they can start signing up for the benefits package that is relevant to their needs. We will have extensive engagement efforts planned, with events, webinars and direct to inbox content that we will be serving up before the LMS launches later in the fall.

When the LMS goes live in Q4, we’ll be looking to drive the badge structure, where people can start to engage in the education. The face-to-face training will begin in Q1 2026, with a series of workshops available from Intro to Coaching, Developing Junior and Adult players and Advanced Coaching skills, to name a few.

How do providers get started with USTA Coaching?

Morris: For those interested in getting into coaching, visit USTACoaching.com and answer some basic onboarding questions, which will point you in the right direction and to the right package. After that, you’d simply go in and start to engage with the online courses and the badges after the release in Q4.

Then, working with our Coach Developers, we’ll have face-to-face courses around the country that combine with the online education and badges. The in-person courses will all be listed on ustacoaching.com. We’re also working with the USTA Sections to build out calendars for these face-to-face courses so they can be easily available to USTA Coaching participants. Some of our in-person courses will be three-and-a-half hours, some will be all day, some may be over a weekend.

After a while, based on what you’ve done, the website will start to make recommendations for more badges or a face-to-face workshop, serving up suggestions that are aligned with the pathway you’re working on. The beauty of what we’re trying to build is that you can engage with the education—whether online or in-person—on your terms and on your timeline.

There must be some sort of “equivalency” for coaches who have progressed in PTR and RSPA, right?

Morris: We've built an inclusive equivalency program to recognize past education and certification achievements. If coaches choose to participate and be recognized by USTA Coaching, we’re making that as easy and as transparent as possible.

While we can’t go into all the details here, suffice to say that if you’ve reached particular levels in current professional domestic and international organizations, you’ll be able to receive USTA Coaching Development Badges for your work, all the way up to a USTA Coaching Master level.

Let’s talk about the PTR and RSPA. Where does USTA Coaching fit in with what this industry has had for decades?

Morris: Right now, we have two organizations that deliver education to coaches. And they deal with ALL racquet sports, so they’re not focusing just on tennis. They’re also both international organizations. I have a lot of respect for their business decisions here—they’re doing what they need to do to grow. There’s clearly a market for them to go into other racquet sports like they have.

But USTA Coaching will be the only organization in the U.S. that is focused solely on tennis coaches in America. Our focus is only on the tennis industry and the tennis coaching industry in the U.S.

What does this mean? It means we will not write a curriculum for pickleball or padel or other racquet sports.

Our plan is to recognize back into our system other racquet sports qualifications or certifications because we know and support that coaches are diversifying their revenue, but OUR resources are going to be on tennis and tennis coaches in America—and in America only. This approach allows us to make the impact we need for tennis, while embracing other racquet sports.

What is the relationship now with the PTR and RSPA?

Morris: We have a very good relationship with both entities. For several years the USTA had an accreditation program, which was sunset earlier this year. We made the decision to shift away from accrediting organizations. Now, we plan to introduce a new USTA Coaching Education Recognition Program where we’ll recognize coaching education and courses, not organizations. Entities like RSPA and PTR—and others, too—may choose to have their courses recognized by USTA Coaching through a new process we plan to introduce in 2026.

When you recognize courses rather than accrediting whole organizations, it allows you to identify the best education that will complement what we’re trying to do with USTA Coaching. It is a more inclusive approach in which the coaches will benefit.

How will USTA Coaching handle recruiting into this industry?

Morris: As we work on our strategy for 2026, we’ll be very intentional about recruitment, particularly of bringing high school and college players into this industry. We know in the next couple of decades we need to embrace a new generation, and we need to start to introduce this age demographic now into the industry, for both men and women and people of diverse backgrounds. There’s no better starting point than high school tennis and Tennis on Campus for college kids, and we see a ton of opportunity.

How do the USTA Sections play into this?

Morris: The Sections will play a key and fundamental role. We have had many individual calls with each of the Sections about how they would like to be engaged based on their strategy. The feedback's been fabulous. They can really identify things like workshop delivery, coaching services, our coach developer network, diverse coach recruitment. This is a very different approach than how we’ve worked with the Sections in the past.

We know at National we can’t have those local relationships the Sections have, which are so essential to growing this sport. So, we couldn't be more thrilled with how we are planning on working cohesively and in collaboration with the Sections.

What is the USTA Coaching Serve & Lead Program?

Morris: We've identified about 100 influential coaches around the U.S. who will act like our ambassadors to help drive awareness of USTA Coaching and its value. And we'll be building out USTA Coaching Education Centers around the country. It is important that we have regional opportunities for coaches to attend workshops to ensure a lower barrier for attending, making sure there are regular opportunities for in-person training, and supporting Sections in driving education in their communities. It also gives us an opportunity to work directly with great facilities across the country that believe in USTA Coaching and our educational offerings.

This is about education across all levels. We are servicing tennis parents through to high-performance coaches on the tour.

How has the industry been reacting to USTA Coaching?

Morris: The feedback we’re getting has been incredibly positive, confirming that this is the way to go. We’ve already hosted multiple Courtside Series events at the lead-in events to the US Open with great success.

We’ve had a tremendous, positive response from manufacturers. Right now, Babolat, Head and Wilson are all on board to support the benefits offered as part of USTA Coaching, and we have others waiting at the door. To have the industry offer discounts of up to 50 percent for professional coaches, whether you’re with Babolat, Head or Wilson, has been fantastic. Never has the industry, or certainly the three major manufacturers, aligned around an initiative from the USTA and particularly around coaching as they are doing for coaches participating in USTA Coaching.

Ultimately, this is all about growing our great game and making an investment to protect the growth for years to come. We’re protecting and growing the delivery system, our coaches, the heroes of the sport. We are thrilled with how responsive the industry has been to the vision for USTA Coaching.

What They’re Saying About USTA Coaching

"As the national governing body for tennis, the USTA is the organization most players and consumers naturally associate with the sport. That’s why USTA’s leadership in establishing USTA Coaching to lead coach education is such an exciting opportunity—it will energize the game by creating a clear pathway for players to become coaches.”—Kim Bastable

“I’m genuinely excited by the USTA’s commitment to developing coaches. With their resources and experience dedicated to USTA Coaching, we have a real chance to support coaches at every level, leading to more players who not only learn the game but come to love it.”—Jorge Capestany

“I applaud the USTA for recognizing that good coaches don’t just magically appear—they are cultivated and supported within a coherent sport ecosystem. That starts with parents, often a child’s first coach, who USTA Coaching is smartly engaging to deliver a great experience.” —Tom Farrey, Aspen Institute Sports & Society

“The USTA’s commitment to lead the way in coaching education marks a defining moment for the tennis industry. USTA Coaching now offers a dynamic range of pathways for individuals to personalize their coaching development journey. By embracing this inclusive and strategic approach, the USTA is setting the stage to achieve its goal of engaging 35 million players by 2035.” —Butch Staples

“The USTA is a strong National Governing Body, a great partner to the USOPC and an important part of Team USA. It's no surprise that they are leading in coaching innovation, building on a history of success and giving the current and future generations new opportunities to learn and achieve with the launch of USTA Coaching." —Sarah Hirshland, CEO USOPC

“A strong coaching system creates quality and consistency; whether that's fundamentals or tactics at the higher level, it lays the foundation for the player. If we want to build sustainable success for American tennis, then we need to invest in the people doing the daily work on the court.” —Bob Bryan, Head Coach, U.S. Davis Cup

“The most important ingredient for the success of tennis in the United States is the coaching that the players receive. Being a coach is maybe one of the highest honors I've ever gotten.” –Lindsay Davenport, Captain, U.S. Billie Jean King Cup

Learn more about USTA Coaching.

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