USTA Names Grassroots Tennis Award Winners; McCord Claims ITF J100 in Argentina; Urhobo Earns First Top WTA 100 Win in WTA Charleston

After three weeks on the road covering junior tennis, I'm back home and in need of some rest, so this post will be brief. But first I want to thank those of you who approached me at last week's Easter Bowl to tell me that you read Zootennis every day and value the content. Those comments always give me a boost when my  energy level might be dropping, and I appreciate hearing that what I'm doing has value to the junior tennis community.

The USTA announced its Grassroots Tennis Award winners at the recent annual meeting in Orlando, with a release coming out today. Although I don't most of them personally, I do know Ray Benton, the recently retired Junior Tennis Champions Center CEO, and am happy to see him recognized for his role in promoting tennis for everyone.

And congratulations to one of my longtime sponsors, Sportime Randall’s Island/John McEnroe Tennis Academy, for being named Member Organization of the Year.

USTA NAMES RECIPIENTS OF GRASSROOTS TENNIS AWARDS

 

ORLANDO, Fla., March 30, 2026 – The USTA today announced its annual national awards recipients, honored for their dedication and contributions to growing the sport of tennis both locally and nationwide. The awards were bestowed at the USTA Annual Meeting & Conference in Orlando, Fla.

 

The award winners are listed below:

 

Adaptive Tennis Award -- HERO New York (New York City)

The Adaptive Tennis Award recognizes a program or program leader who has demonstrated continued excellence, dedication, and service in tennis for an adaptive tennis community.

 

Barbara Williams Service Award -- Laura Canfield (Feasterville, Pa.)

Established in 2003, this award recognizes a female volunteer who, through her leadership and by her example, has encouraged and inspired others to become volunteers and assume leadership roles at the community, section, and/or national levels of the USTA.

 

Brad Parks Award -- Jim Tierney (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.)

The Brad Parks Award was established in 2002. It recognizes outstanding contributions to the game of wheelchair tennis and was named after Brad Parks, the sport’s chief pioneer and the first wheelchair tournament champion, who has been instrumental in the development of wheelchair tennis around the world.

 

Eve Kraft Community Service Award -- Jennifer Edmonson (Baton Rouge, La.)

The Eve Kraft Outstanding Service Award honors volunteer tennis leaders for significant contributions made to tennis development in their respective communities.

 

Family of the Year -- The Meyer Family (Rockport, Maine)

The award is awarded annually to the family who, in recent years, has done the most to promote amateur tennis, primarily on a volunteer basis. All members of the family should participate in some way, either as players or by offering their services in running programs or tournaments, or in junior development activities.

 

Janet Louer JTT Organizer of the Year -- Shane Cashen (Kaneohe, Hawaii)

The Janet Louer Junior Team Tennis Organizer of the Year Award is presented to an individual who delivers USTA Junior Team Tennis to their community and embodies the true meaning of having a positive impact on children. The award is named after Janet Louer, who was instrumental in the development of junior tennis during her lifetime.

 

League Organizer Award -- Kathy Hinrichs (Destrehan, La.)

The award, established in 2015, recognizes and honors the many volunteers who have provided leadership and have made significant contributions to the growth and enhancement of USTA Leagues, both in their section and nationally.

 

Member Organization of the Year -- SPORTIME Randall’s Island/John McEnroe Tennis Academy (New York City)

This award was instituted in 1981 and is given to the organization that best exemplifies service to the community, service to its members through junior and adult programs and service to the game of tennis.

 

NJTL Founders’ Service Award -- Ray Benton (College Park, Md.)

Established in 2010, the NJTL Founders’ Service Award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated a longstanding commitment to positive youth development through tennis and education, delivers outstanding service to young people from under-resourced communities with free or low-cost tennis, and provides education and life-skills programming. The NJTL network serves as the flagship program supported by the USTA Foundation.

 

NJTL of the Year Award -- Portland Tennis & Education (Portland, Ore.)

The NJTL of the Year Award is given to chapters that positively impact young people from under-resourced communities through the powerful combination of tennis, education and mentorship. Founded in 1969 by Arthur Ashe, Charlie Pasarell, and Sheridan Snyder, the NJTL network is a nationwide group of more than 270 community organizations. Supported by the USTA Foundation through financial grants, scholarship opportunities, curricula, technical assistance, and training, the NJTL network provides free or low-cost tennis and education programming to more than 230,000 young people nationwide.

Some of the lower level ITF Junior Circuit results from the past several weeks may have escaped my notice, but I wanted to recognize Shristi Selvan for sweeping the titles at the J60 in Puerto Rico the week of the Tucson ITF J300 I was covering. Seeded No. 5 in the new round robin/knockout format, Selvan defeated unseeded Bela Martinez Rivero of Puerto Rico 6-3, 6-4 in the final. It was the first ITF singles title for the 16-year-old from Maryland, who just completed her sweep of the Easter Bowl 16s titles yesterday in Indian Wells. The top seed in doubles with Carolina Castro of Puerto Rico, who won the silver ball in girls 18s doubles yesterday at the Easter, Selvan and Castro beat No. 3 seeds Audrey Dussault and Puerto Rico's Aurora Lugo 6-2, 6-2 in the final.

Londyn McCord, who has stuck to the South American clay this winter and spring, won her fourth ITF Junior Circuit singles title, all coming this year, at the J100 last week in Argentina. Seeded No. 4, the 16-year-old from Atlanta defeated Clara Coura of Brazil 6-3, 6-0 for the title, giving her two J30s, a J60 and a J100 title all on South American red clay. She also partnered with Scarlett Fagan for the doubles title, with the No. 2 seeds beating unseeded Zoe Doldan of Paraguay and Luciana Luna of Peru 6-4, 6-4 in the final. McCord is now up to 156 in the ITF Junior rankings.

Today at the WTA 500 in Charleston South Carolina, 19-year-old Akasha Urhobo recorded her first WTA Top 100 win in her first main draw WTA match, beating No. 65 Solana Sierra of Argentina 7-5, 3-0 retired. Urhobo, who qualified with wins over Whitney Osuigwe and Louisa Chirico, will play No. 13 seed Sara Bejlek of the Czech Republic next.

Former Texas A&M All-American Mary Stoiana also qualified for the main draw of a WTA event for the first time by beating collegiate rival Dasha Vidmanova(Georgia) in the final round 6-2, 7-6(2).