30-Love: Atlanta, the Diverse Urban Tennis Town

From individuals to organizations, weekend warriors to professional players, minute observations to big-picture ideas, tennis has been top of mind across the board over the past two years.

“I feel like this is the tennis boom part two,” says Trey Waltke, general manager of the Malibu Racquet Club in southern California. “Everyone is talking tennis. Everyone is playing. People are rediscovering how great tennis is.”

Tennis shouldn’t rest on its laurels; the first boom didn’t last forever. But this is as good of an opportunity to reflect on what the sport has gotten right, during a time when so much has gone wrong.

Over the next few weeks, we'll do just that, with a series of stories—30-Love—that highlights 30 things worth celebrating about the New American Tennis Boom. Look for past articles on the left side of each page.—Ed McGrogan

What makes a great tennis town? For many, those words conjure up images of suburban Florida’s public courts, or country clubs in southern California. But in Atlanta, Ga., a vibrant tennis scene is flourishing unlike anywhere in the United States.

Home to the Truist Atlanta Open, an ATP 250 stop, the southern metropolis enjoys great tennis-playing weather year-round. But it is in its abundance of public courts, leagues and registered players where Atlanta truly shines.

“There’s always a game to be found,” says Lee King, president of the historic Bitsy Grant Tennis Center and a longtime fixture in Atlanta’s bustling league scene. “No matter what level you are and how much or how little you want to play, there’s probably five times more opportu- nity to play here than anywhere else.”

That’s because the “city of a hundred hills” is also a city with thousands of tennis facilities. There are over 400 tennis courts within the city of Atlanta—or “intown,” as the locals say—and hundreds more scattered across neighbor- hoods in the surrounding metro area. (That is, “outside the perimeter.”) The city’s housing boom in the 1990s led to the rise of swim-and- tennis communities, making it easy for Atlan- tans to pick up a racquet and play.

For those with a competitive streak, there are no shortage of options. Atlanta is the USTA’s top league-playing city in the nation, and is also home to the country’s largest grassroots tennis organization, the Atlanta Lawn Tennis Associa- tion. Founded in 1934 to promote the sport and starting league play in 1971, the ALTA now boasts more than 60,000 members.

“As the city has continued to grow, we’ve also experienced a more diverse tennis population as well,” said Lamar Scott, the incoming 2022 ALTA President. “Our league play has served as a sort of bridge to bring people together from different communities, and do it in a social environment.”

That emphasis on social gathering is just as integral as the on-court competition. It’s not uncommon for a hard-fought Sunday doubles match to end in beers and a cookout, and many life-long rivalries and friendships have been forged on the courts and parks of Atlanta. Many more are sure to come.