Diversity Woman Magazine

SUM 2015

Leadership and Executive Development for women of all races, cultures and backgrounds

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d i v e r s i t y w o m a n . c o m S u m m e r 2 0 1 5 D I V E R S I T Y W O M A N 31 T E N N I S E V E R Y O N E ? "My motivation when I was young was collecting trophies," she says. "I believe I stopped counting when I got to about 220." Today, those trophies have been given away or are "probably in a dumpster somewhere." When Adams was 12, she announced that she wanted to play tennis in college and ultimately be a professional tennis player. She won the Illinois state singles title in high school and then attended Northwestern, where she led the Wildcats to the 1986 and 1987 Big Ten titles. She was an All-American those two years and in 1987 became the frst NCAA African American doubles champion. She joined the professional tour in 1988. Tat season she reached the semis in doubles at Wimbledon and the fourth round in singles, losing to Chris Evert in three sets. Most of her success came in doubles, which she often played with her friend and mentor Zina Garrison. Garrison advised Adams on handling the rigors and pressures of the tour. Adams says, in general, racism wasn't an issue—or at least it wasn't for her. "Were there experiences of being singled out or stared at?" she says. "Of course. But I was bigger than that, so it really didn't bother me. I've always worked on seeking my goals, my dreams, and my desires, and if I've had those [negative] ex- periences, it's because of those people's ignorance, not because of something that I was." Two of Adams's challenges at the USTA are to fnd and de- velop potential stars, while boosting the overall popularity of tennis participation nationally. Te two go hand in hand. By in- creasing the involvement of children and youths, the USTA can instill a love for the game. As a result, the level of play rises, and this, in turn, creates a bigger pool of potential stars Among Adams's frst priorities is, as she puts it, "trying to make tennis look like America" and working to continue to shed the game of its reputation as a country club sport. Tennis has long been popular among the Caucasian population, and in the past 20 years, in part due to the huge success of Serena and Venus Williams, it has become popular among African Americans. Tennis has also been a favorite sport historically among Asian Americans. Tat means the next focus will be working with the Hispanic community, which has not yet taken to the sport in signifcant numbers. "Tere are many Latin players on the tour from Argentina, Spain, etcetera, but here in the United States, we are lacking," says Adams. "Tere are a lot of diferent Latino and Hispanic cultures in the United States, and understanding these cultures better will help us as we try to embrace them in our sport. One of the goals is to be more inclusive of their families overall and introduce tennis as an afordable and accessible sport the entire family can play together." Of course, the emergence of a Latina breakout star like one of the Williams sisters or Tiger Woods in golf wouldn't hurt. Tennis has made signifcant inroads in the African American community not simply because Serena and Venus Williams have blown away their opponents on TV. Adams, who has been the executive director of the Harlem Junior Tennis and Educa- tion Program (HJTEP) for the past nine years, has had a lot to do with that as well. Te program's mission is to build "champions in tennis and life" by providing tennis classes and programs, tutoring, mentoring, AMONG ADAMS'S FIRST PRIORITIES IS "TRYING TO MAKE TENNIS LOOK LIKE AMERICA."

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