The Future of Tennis

- Cindy Shmerler

IMAGINE THE THRILL : Eleven-year-old Kristen, already excited because it’s her birthday, turns on her smartphone and is greeted by well-wishes from CiCi Bellis. Fifteen-year-old Maxwell receives monthly tips from Taylor Fritz on how to improve his serve. And 6-year-old Jaylen, just learning the game for the first time, can’t wait to join his friends for a match on a court sized just for him.

All of these personalized and innovative tennis enhancements are part of a new initiative from the USTA called Net Generation, which aims to connect with players from ages 5 to 18—and inspire enthusiasm and participation in the sport like never before.

“We can’t deliver the game to the future generation the way we brought it to the previous one,” says Kurt Kamperman, the USTA’s chief executive for community tennis and its new National Campus in Lake Nona, FL. “These kids are living in a digital age. They’re on their phones all the time and 40 percent of them are getting no exercise at all.”

Six years ago, in an effort to attract more kids to a sport that can be both costly and frustrating for beginners, the USTA developed 10 and Under Tennis. With smaller courts that could be installed over existing, full-size courts, or even in school gymnasiums, kids could learn how to play tennis with balls and racquets more suited to their sizes and abilities. Scoring was modified to make matches shorter and, hopefully, hold attention spans for longer.