We are pleased to share that the Southern Tennis Foundation 2023 recipient of the PTR Foundation/VDM scholarship is Kendall Moody from Columbus, Mississippi. She is an NJTL student with Golden Triangle Tennis and will be attending Northwest Mississippi Community College in the fall. Kendall will receive $1,000 for the next four years provided she maintains a qualifying GPA.

“Dennis Van der Meer was one of the most influential educators and coaches of his time. Dennis led the way in teaching teachers. He was the first to develop a methodical system of teaching that was adopted by coaches around the world. Dennis loved tennis and his passion and commitment for student and coach improvement was amongst the best.” – Craig Tiley, CEO of Tennis Australia

The PTR Foundation donated $5,000 to the Maui tennis community as a Humanitarian effort. Tennis pros at Royal Lahaina Tennis Ranch, Kapalua, and Lahaina Tennis Club lost homes and facilities to work at, but thankfully they were all able to evacuate and escape the flames with their families. With this donation we are committed to helping with the rebuilding of a strong community, and we wish the best to all of the affected Maui residents.

We are always looking at ways in which we can improve our communications with you. We have been keeping you up to date with the Foundation events on social media and emails. Please continue to give us a thumbs up and comment on our posts on FB, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Linkedin. We are all ears! Share your suggestions and comments to radhika@ptrfoundation.org

PTR International Master Professional and the Foundation’s dear friend, Jack Thompson passed away unexpectedly, by doing what he loved, playing doubles with some of his dearest friends. Thompson was a kind man with a great sense of humor. He was a phenomenal teacher, speaker, mentor, camp director, consultant, academy director and an author. Jack strongly believed that American tennis players should focus on developing a well-rounded game.

Is your high school / college team ready for the season? Are you ready to coach? It’s never too late to review our International Master Pro Tina Tharp’s guidelines for a successful season. She feels, “setting off court expectations is the hardest part. The on-court activities are the easiest part of team coaching, especially if you’ve taken care of what’s going on outside of their tennis lives.”

Read the full article by clicking here.

Never Give Up! An awe-inspiring movie based on a true story of our very own PTR member, Brad Minns. Brad became deaf at age three and rose to the height of his sport. He won the Men’s Singles Tennis Gold Medal Finals at the 1985 World Games for the Deaf. The film will hit the theaters on September 1 – the first day of Deaf Awareness Month in the United States.

We are all immensely grateful for the gift of tennis in our lives. Dennis Van der Meer established the Professional Tennis Registry Foundation (PTRF) in 1978 to make the gift of tennis accessible to everyone worldwide. To keep Dennis’ vision and mission alive, please consider donating to the non-profit PTRF. Your gift and Dennis’ gift to all of us will bring this remarkable sport within reach to countless people worldwide.

Dr. Jim Loehr

2023 Donation Goal – $100,000

17%

We have an ambition to help you, but we can’t do it alone.

The foundation volunteered to teach a tennis clinic at the High School Day of the Golden Gate Open Tournament. This tournament, sponsored by Wilson and USTA Norcal and hosted by Stanford University, championed equitable opportunity in its first rendition this year. It is “the first combined 125-level event in the history of the sport to offer equal prize money to men and women competitors.”

Your return on investment is priceless! Please come cheer, volunteer, and engage with our Special Olympics athletes at the North America Special Olympics Championships, at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina on October 12- 14, 2023. Sign up for more details https://tinyurl.com/2023SONATennis

August Tennis Trivia

What college has won the most NCAA women’s tennis team championships?

a.    Georgia
b.    Stanford
c.     UCLA
d.    USC

Tennis Trivia Answers

May – Aaron Krickstein
June – Navratilova had 43 wins; Evert had 37 wins
July – Steffi Graff (377 weeks)
August – Stanford