Nirvana With Nets

There’s a new destination in Florida:the USTA National Campus, an all-inclusive home for every level of American tennis.

- Cindy Shmerler

Just off Highway 417, a little more than 10 minutes southeast of Orlando International Airport, sit two cream-colored marble pillars trumpeting the entrance to Lake Nona, FL. Perhaps the town should add tennis racquets to the décor, given its new designation as the gateway to American tennis.

A couple of miles to the north, a freshly paved road leads to the USTA National Campus, a 64-acre, 100-court facility that sparkles like newly-whitened teeth and is the culmination of a four-year project to merge American tennis at all levels, from first-time players, league participants and super seniors to hot-shot juniors and college players—not to mention developing and already-developed pros. Like the National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, there is a constant roar of airplanes overhead, but Lake Nona is an entirely different type of venue.

“This place really is the future of tennis, not just American tennis,” says Kurt Kamperman, the USTA’s chief executive for community tennis and the USTA National Campus. “We’d like this to be for the next generation of tennis players, as well as the last generation. We can’t keep trying to deliver the sport to a 9-year-old in today’s digital world in the same way we did it in the 1990s.”

It’s easy to understand why the USTA chose Lake Nona for its new home. Four years ago, the White Plains-based organization began seeking bigger and better headquarters. Since the fall of 2007, its Player Development program shared space with the Evert Tennis Academy in Boca Raton, two and a half hours down the Florida Turnpike. But with limited court availability, a dearth of surface options and nowhere to grow, it became clear that it was time to move on.