Kim Conley, a Flagstaff, Ariz. resident and former American Olympian distance runner who competed in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, recently discovered she runs to a new tune, a hardcore tennis addiction. 

In Kim Conley’s first-ever USTA tennis tournament on Memorial Day weekend in 2025, she played against an 11-year-old junior. Conley, a two-time Olympic distance runner and Flagstaff, Ariz. resident nearly three decades older than her opponent, lost the match in straight sets. 

“It was humbling, but also eye opening,” she said.

This is Conley’s life these days. She is still an elite runner who travels around the country to compete in races and has a coaching business with her husband, Drew Wartenburg. But now, Conley, 40, brings her tennis racquet wherever she goes. At home in Flagstaff, she participates in three USTA leagues and estimates she plays tennis about five days a week. 

Tennis has become an obsession for Conley, a 2012 and 2016 Team USA Olympian, even as she shared news recently that she broke her arm diving for a ball during practice. A minor setback! Conley plans to “bring a pro athlete level mindset to recovery and rehab,” she said, and intends to be back playing tennis later this year, hopefully in time for the 18 & Over League Section Championships for her Northern Arizona squad in mid-August.

“Starting at something as a beginner and seeing improvement is giving me a huge sense of satisfaction now that chasing [personal records in running] isn’t realistic anymore,” Conley said. “And the movements in tennis are really good for me after spending so many years doing a sport that is very one-dimensional.”
 

‘This Is So Much Fun’

Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, Conley was too busy with other sports — running, soccer, basketball and volleyball — to play tennis. Aside from attending a one-week tennis summer camp in middle school, the sport was not part of Conley’s routine.

But she enjoyed her brief experience with tennis so much that she told herself she would pick it up again after her running career. Becoming one of the top runners in the United States and a two-time Olympian pushed back the timeline.

“Tennis has always been in the back of my mind,” Conley said.

In the summer of 2024, Conley had an opportunity to play tennis for the first time in decades when some of her coaching clients invited her to join a tennis clinic at Montauk Yacht Club in the Hamptons. Lacoste sponsored the event and the clinic organizers handed Conley a tennis dress to wear as soon as she walked in.

“It was so not me, but when I got out on the court, I was like, this is so much fun,” Conley said. “I had the best time being out there.”

When she returned to Flagstaff, where she and Wartenburg have lived full-time since 2020, Conley immediately started looking into local tennis groups and joined the Flagstaff Tennis Program. At that time, she did not own a racquet, so Conley went to a Big 5 Sporting Goods store in town and bought a $20 racquet in order to get evaluated for lessons.

“The instructor basically said, ‘You know absolutely nothing about tennis, clearly, but you have some raw athleticism,’” Conley added.

She joined the advanced beginner group, and in between classes would watch tennis Instagram Reels. Shortly after, she started taking private lessons, and this year, Conley dove headlong into USTA League play, starting as a 3.0 She's currently on three USTA league teams, an 18-and-over 3.0 women’s team, a 40-and-over 3.0 women’s team and a 40-and-over 3.5 women’s team. The broken arm she recently suffered diving for a ball will put a slight damper on her season, since she won't be able to play at the 40 & Over Section Championships in Albuquerque in June. 

A normal week on the court for Conley is as follows: intermediate group classes on Monday mornings and Thursday evenings, 3.5 team practice on Tuesday afternoons, USTA league matches on Saturdays and either league play or 3.0 team practice on Sundays.

“I still love to run, but to have a new sport where I'm starting as a complete beginner and where it seems like it's all upside from here, it feels really good,” Conley said. “I really enjoy getting to know everybody in the community. I enjoy playing doubles. We play and then go for happy hour. It’s just a fun way to spend a day.”
 

Multi-Dimensional Sport

Conley wants to recruit her runner friends to tennis and spread the gospel of the health benefits of the sport.

Several mainstream media outlets in the past year have covered what makes tennis the “world’s healthiest sport.”  The New York Times wrote about tennis in an article titled, "The Best Sports for Longevity." And Alexandra Moe of The Atlantic wrote an article with the headline, "If You Must Play One Sport, Make It Tennis,"

Conley agrees with the assessments. She said she is much healthier than she has been in years because she is moving her body in different ways.

Tennis is “so dynamic,” Conley said. “It’s using all these different muscles, and so it’s not one-dimensional like running is. It’s just very much a multi-dimensional sport where you’re using your entire body.”

Playing tennis regularly has also made Conley feel “much faster” than she has in a long time, she said, because she is sprinting around the court. “My running background helps me with that,” Conley said. “My motivation is so high to get to some of these balls that I am really using a lot of speed.” 

During competition, Conley brings an elite athlete and process-oriented mindset to the game. The more she practices, she said, the better she will get, without being fixated on the outcomes. Conley also thrives when the pressure is on. 

“I live for moments when I can do something like serve for the match,” she said.

During her USTA Northern Arizona league play, Conley has looked around and seen tennis players of all ages competing. It inspires her to continue playing the sport for as long as she possibly can. 

“What USTA has created with their leagues in different age categories gets me really excited, because I have tennis friends now that are in their 70s,” Conley said. “They’re so fit and they’re so healthy. I’ve just joined the 40-plus league, and I’m having a great time, and there’s a 55-plus league I can join 15 years from now.”

It’s a big part of why she’s been so addicted to the sport.

“I feel so happy every time I’m out there playing tennis with my new tennis friends,” Conley said.