The USTA recently released the 2025 National Adult Tournament Schedule. I am thrilled to have such an early look at the calendar for the coming year. That information significantly helps players prioritize and map out their play. One of many success factors driving higher participation in tournaments at the highest levels is enabling people to block out key dates into their calendars. It is a far cry from the current year when we were well into March before dates for some of the tournaments were announced. Kudos to the USTA for leaning hard into getting this done early and being responsive to player needs.
At the same time, the calendar release includes some news that dramatically impacts Senior Women’s tennis. While I knew this was coming for some time, I wanted to wait until it was official before sharing my thoughts. Specifically, the Houston Racquet Club will no longer host the National Senior Women’s Clay Court Championships. The club decided not to apply for the sanction for this tournament during the current cycle for various complicated reasons. It is important to emphasize that the USTA did not drive this decision. In fact, the organization did a great job ensuring that all the divisions previously hosted by that tournament were covered.
One of the most impactful ramifications of this change is the loss of a Senior Women’s tournament that brings together a wide range of age divisions at a single site. The National Women’s Tennis Organization always conducted its annual membership meeting at that tournament, taking advantage of the opportunity when many of its members were already together at the same time. That meeting will have to be relocated or moved strictly online starting in 2025.
I will miss seeing the divisions not ordinarily held in conjunction with my age group. I doubt that the opportunity to see 35+ tennis on adjacent courts to 85+ matches at the same tournament will ever happen again. For me, seeing everyone together built a tremendous sense of community across all the age divisions. I am personally mourning the loss.
Gone is also the opportunity for non-members to play in a tournament at the historic Houston Racquet Club. That is where the “original nine,” who formed what became the WTA, signed their $1 contracts and played their first tournament. This underscores the importance of players who want to compete at some of tennis’s most iconic venues to prioritize tournament opportunities when available. Just because a facility hosted a tournament in the past does not guarantee that it will do so in the future.
This shift also impacts the national geographic distribution of Level 1 Women’s tournaments. For 2025, the divisions previously hosted in Houston mainly went to Florida and Alabama. The tournament map, which has always skewed heavily toward Florida and California, just tilted a little further in that direction. That was an inevitable outcome constrained by the locations of the clubs willing and able to host such events.
This makes the 2025 USTA National Tournament Schedule particularly important, especially for those players who previously automatically played in the National Senior Women’s Clay Court Championships in Houston. Many players will be looking for alternatives this year.
Having early access to the National tournament schedule helps. Additionally, I strongly prefer the spreadsheet grid format used by the USTA in making the announcement. In past years, tournaments were listed chronologically, and it wasn’t easy to quickly locate where my particular divisions would be hosted. The grid makes it easy to find those tournaments at a glance.
It is time to look toward the future rather than dwelling on the past. The Houston Racquet Club’s departure as a host for the National Senior Women’s Clay Court Championships closes a glorious chapter of competitive tournament play for older age divisions in women’s tennis. However, it also opens the door to opportunities and experiences in different venues. It forces us all to be innovative and creative, and much good can come from that.
All the even age divisions are at Palm Beach Gardens except the 30s…so maybe the NWTO annual meeting can be there. And I have had a grid schedule for years…hopefully the USTA will add links to the grid as promised. I think it will. Mixed is added to all the divisions which used to be in Houston…and the 35/45/55 are all going to be held in conjunction with men’s divisions. It will be interesting to see how that goes for 35/55 (45 was already with the men’s 40/45…so will be stronger when a women’s national. Is at the same time). Really sad that the Houston Clay nationals which was the best tournament in the world for women is no more though.
I am truly so sorry that we have lost the Houston Clay tournament. I played my first national tournament there when I was 55 years old and enjoyed every minute of it.
Thank you, Teresa, for your very informative articles.