As the 2026 US Open is underway in New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York Junior Tennis & Learning (NYJTL) highlighted support for the city’s local youth tennis programs and the opening of 10 newly resurfaced public tennis courts in the Bronx.
The city has a long, storied history with tennis, with more than 500 public courts and parks across the five boroughs, and a century-long tradition of the US Open in Queens. NYC is home to tennis legends like Althea Gibson and former Mayor David Dinkins.
“These courts are some of the most popular in the Bronx. They are home to the country’s largest free junior tennis competition, the Mayor Dinkins Cup, hosted by our partners at [NYJTL] and featuring more than 800 young players from across the city,” said Mamdani at the press conference on Aug 26, 2026. “And yet, for too long, these courts have been worn down with cracks in the surface that make bounces unpredictable and play all too difficult.”
Mamdani also excitedly served a few backhands with the kids on the court after the press conference.
Assemblymember Chantel Jackson, the chair of the Black Legislative Task Forces, joined in on the fun and ribbon cutting on the tennis courts last week.
“Tennis can open doors that go far beyond the court,” said Jackson in a statement. “For a lot of our young people, especially in urban communities, tennis has not always been the sport they’ve had the same access or exposure to. That has to change. When we create spaces where our kids can learn the game, compete, build discipline, and develop relationships, we’re also creating pathways to scholarships, college opportunities, mentorship, travel, and careers they may not have considered for themselves.”
NYJTL, which is the largest youth tennis and education non-profit in the nation, serves more than 90,000 youth in grades K-12. The organization received a $500,000 grant from the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Foundation and Yonex, a tennis equipment sponsor, to patch up the courts and apply a new sports coating over the course of three weeks, said NYJTL Executive Director of Tennis Ahsha Rolle. A portion of the funds went towards youth coaching, mentorship, and academic support at no cost to the young athletes’ families.
: Bronx youth enjoy newly resurfaced public tennis courts in Bronx with Mayor Mamdani on August 26, 2026. (Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)
Rolle added that the Bronx is one of the poorest congressional districts, especially where the center is located, so she applauds the efforts to pour resources into a community where the need is the greatest.
“Tennis is one of those sports that’s kind of always been considered an elitist sport. So a lot of Black and Brown folks don’t know that the sport is for them,” said Rolle, a Florida native and a former pro tennis player in 2007. She achieved a career-high ranking of 82 in the world in singles.
NYJTL has 15 ball crew members in the US Open this year, and they will host the Junior U.S. Open qualifier at the Cary Leeds Center for Tennis & Learning on September 1-5, which is located about a 2-minute walk away from the refurbished courts in Crotona Park in the Bronx.
Rolle said it’s essentially a sneak peek into the sport’s next big stars and a huge deal for the young athletes. “Being able to see yourself in the sport. Being able to see people that look like you on TV. I remember I had beads in my hair as a kid too, because Venus and Serena started out with the beads,” she said.
More than motivation and discipline, Rolle said that tennis gave her access to high-level career opportunities. “Through tennis, they can go up, grow up to be other things. Maybe they want to be a coach. Maybe they want to be a director. Maybe they want to be a doctor. But they can use tennis and the life lessons that tennis teaches you that resilience, that discipline, that professionalism. They can use all those attributes to become essentially whatever they want to be.”
Isis Gill-Reid is the founder and executive director of SG Next Level Tennis. She grew up in Bedstuy, Brooklyn, playing with NYJTL and went on to be a Division I tennis player in the USTA Eastern Section for girls 12-18. She has been a high-performance tennis coach and consultant since 2022, and has coached players at three Junior Grand Slams.
Gill-Reid coaches small groups in Long Island and has community and afterschool programming in Brooklyn. Intent on giving back to the communities that raised her, she said that programming is just the first touchpoint to increasing accessibility to tennis, but it’s a long pathway to success when dealing with young athletes.
“The city can help with increasing access to tennis. One, just more tennis courts, putting lights at tennis courts so people have more time to actually come out and play. Increasing the budget to allocate funding for programming across the city,” said Gill-Reid, “ [And] if there’s funding for smaller programs that aren’t necessarily nonprofits, but operated social enterprises, you’re able to increase accessibility to the sport. And also just trying to partner with smaller orgs to get them into schools.”
“I definitely played at Harlem Jr. Tennis program in the Armory on 127th. They run a great program. I know they’re also trying to expand and build a tennis center up in Harlem,” she said.
Gill-Reid added that she’d love to see fully funded tennis facilities in places like Harlem and East New York in Brooklyn next. The refurbished courts in the Bronx are the only ones in the borough with lights on during the night for extended practice and play.
