Don’t Mess with Texas Collegiate Tennis

In Texas, we take college tennis seriously. 

It’s no coincidence that Daniel Penick, the Father of Texas Tennis, was a college professor and coach at UT Austin where he discovered the sport in 1891 in his senior year at UT. Indeed, he embodied the inseparable link between collegiate and community tennis.

Today, the mission of USTA Texas is Growing tennis inclusively to promote and inspire healthier people while serving Texas communities and college tennis is integral to that endeavor. 

Every year college and university tennis teams bring new classes of athletes from across the state, country and world. When they step onto campuses in the fall, they’re no longer “recruits” – these newly-minted Texans earn educations and experiences which are then paid back to our communities for decades to come. 

These tennis teams inspire communities regularly - their fans, their fellow-students, and the wider tennis communities who attend their matches - see world-class tennis, team camaraderie and passion on display through events that are almost always free or inexpensive and widely available.

This year, over a dozen Texas college and university tennis teams competed in postseason competition across Divisions I – III, the NAIA, and others. Notably, at this year’s NCAA National Championships, the men’s program at the University of Texas was the NCAA runner-up while the Texas A&M women’s team won the national championship – its second in three years. In both men’s and women’s competition, Texas teams are perennial powerhouses in collegiate tennis, boasting at least six National Champion teams in the last ten years alongside numerous runners-up. Texas also frequently hosts the sport's biggest tournaments, including recent NCAA and ITA National Championships.

The strength of Texas collegiate tennis isn’t just measured in championships, but also in the sheer depth of these programs. Today Texas has over 85 Men’s and Women’s tennis teams across NCAA Division I-III and NAIA and many more Junior College teams as well. 

And the story doesn’t end at graduation. 

A long and growing list of current ATP and WTA players, including Cameron Norrie (TCU), Austin Krajicek (Texas A&M), Peyton Stearns (Texas) and many others prove the elite pipeline role of Texas collegiate tennis.

Many other college tennis players become young professionals with strong ties to our State. They become coaches, parents, and the leaders of tomorrow. 

Indeed,  participating in college tennis sets up young athletes for a lifetime relationship to the sport. The bonds they form and the lessons they learn as part of collegiate teams truly last a lifetime. We see this every day: the USTA Texas leadership, volunteers and staff includes numerous former college tennis players, coaches and officials. Countless more local CTA leaders and organizers, high performance and club professionals, teachers and coaches have competed on collegiate courts as well.

We can’t take collegiate tennis for granted here in Texas.

Because we know just how impactful collegiate tennis programs are both within and beyond their communities, the losses of programs such as Prairie View A&M’s Men’s and Women’s teams and  UTEP’s Women’s Tennis are that much more painful. These losses will be felt for years to come. Without action and support, there may be more tennis programs lost in the future.

What we’re doing to support college tennis

Our relationships within and beyond college tennis have helped us continue to seek new and innovative ways to support the wider tennis ecosystem. To that end, USTA Texas is endeavoring to deepen and expand our work with and through collegiate tennis to continue growing the World’s Healthiest Sport for the future. 

The USTA and USTA Texas currently have active partnerships with 12 university facilities listed as community tennis hubs. This initiative is specifically designed to bring community events to college campuses and to help forge strong bonds between teams, institutions, and their communities. These courts become venues for competition, community events, tennis on campus competitions, tournaments, and more. 

USTA Texas has been on the forefront of seeking out creative and proactive ways to help reinforce and enhance these relationships through grants and facility support that connects college tennis programs and their communities. 

One example is the City of Laredo Tennis Complex at Texas A&M International University (TAMIU), which opened in 2025. That project brought together stakeholders from the University, City, and local tennis associations to help develop a facility that could not only host high-level collegiate competition, but also serve as a pillar for sport, wellness, and tennis within its diverse community. The USTA and USTA Texas helped facilitate this through significant assistance, and there is more help in the form of planning and grants coming to new and existing facilities across Texas. 

We’re also partnering with the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), the governing body of college tennis, to help connect former college tennis athletes with their local tennis associations and ITA Alumni chapters. These connections are helping bridge the gaps former athletes might feel moving to a new community. They are able to build new tennis friendships and create meaningful connections based on a shared love of the game. Currently, chapters exist in Dallas and Austin with plans for future expansion into San Antonio and Houston soon. 

It would be naive not to recognize that the climate of college sports is rapidly evolving -- changes in budgets, shifting regulations, and uncertainty from both university and state administrations do not create a climate of stability. But we are compelled to speak out for the value of collegiate tennis, and we encourage you to do the same. 

Let’s continue to support our college tennis teams. Show up to matches, donate when you can, advocate for the sustainability and continuation of college tennis and show everyone that you don’t mess with Texas Collegiate Tennis!