WHM: USTA Southern Vice President Beth Hopkins

For Women's History Month, USTA Southern posed a series of questions to our Southern Tennis Foundation chairman and four women on the USTA Board of Directors.

Beth Hopkins
USTA Southern Vice President

At the 2023 US Open, Beth Hopkins was honored as one of the USTA’s Champions of Equality. She previously was honored with the USTA Southern Volunteer of the Year Award in 2012, and received the Martin Luther King Dare to Make a Difference Award in Winston-Salem, N.C. Her most recent honors include the ACC Unity Award, and being named Wake Forest Distinguished Alumnus of the Year for 2023. Read more on Beth Hopkins.

A woman who’s inspired me & why: Mary McLeod Bethune and my mother, Dr. Grace Norbrey. Both were courageous and inspirational. They had no fear and were brilliant. They believed in service to the community and fostered great changes for the uplifting of people of color.

Favorite Tennis memory: Uniting with my mother’s cousins (originally from Richmond, Va) when my son played at a junior tennis grass court tournament in Philadelphia. These cousins discovered from my mother that she had a grandson playing in the tournament, and they came to the courts to meet my son and me for the first time. We had no idea what the other looked like, but we knew each other upon the first glance. We maintained a long relationship as a result of that tournament.

Fun fact about me: I love to swim with my grandchildren.

When not playing tennis, I’d rather be: Reading a good mystery novel.

Favorite tennis match I played in: Finals in a doubles Bermuda Run Country Club match 10 years ago.

Favorite tennis match I watched: A match during a doubles college match where my son and his team partner beat the number one team in the nation.

Dream doubles partner: Leslie Allen

Why I volunteer: This is an engaging life sport. There is an opportunity to meet people and to have people meet other people of different stripes and backgrounds. It is fun to move around and use strategy to outwit an opponent, and it is a barrel of fun.