How Harlem Is Putting Tennis Within Reach of the Next Generation
There is something beautiful about watching a child pick up a tennis racket for the first time.
The grip is awkward. The swing is too big. The ball goes somewhere it wasn’t supposed to go.
And then, eventually, it comes back.
That first return can be a little victory.
In Harlem, organizations are working to make sure more young people get the opportunity to experience that moment, because tennis should not be a sport reserved for families who can afford expensive equipment, private lessons, court fees and tournament travel.
This summer, that conversation came into sharp focus when professional tennis players joined a free youth clinic at Howard Bennett Playground in Harlem. The Women’s Tennis Association and Harlem Junior Tennis hosted the clinic, giving local children an opportunity to learn directly from professionals competing at the U.S. Open. CBS News
The lesson wasn’t simply about tennis.
It was about access.
PUT A RACKET IN THEIR HANDS
The clinic gave children instruction in the fundamentals of tennis, from running drills to learning the mechanics of a backswing. Participants also received one-on-one instruction from professional players.
For some children, this may have been their first meaningful introduction to the sport.
And that matters.
Because tennis can be expensive.
There is the racket. The shoes. The clothing. The court. The coaching. The tournament fees. The transportation.
Even watching professional tennis can become expensive.
But the cost of entry shouldn’t determine whether a Harlem child gets to discover that they love the game.
That is where community tennis programs become so important.
TENNIS IS TEACHING MORE THAN TENNIS
Harlem Junior Tennis President Katrina Adams has made the connection between athletics and personal development a central part of the conversation.
The point isn’t simply to teach a child how to hit a forehand.
It is to teach discipline.
Self-motivation.
Resilience.
How to deal with adversity.
How to keep going after missing the shot.
How to lose without giving up.
How to win without forgetting who helped you get there.
Those lessons travel far beyond the court. CBS News
And perhaps that is why youth sports matter so much to a neighborhood.
They give young people somewhere to go, something to work toward and adults who believe in their potential.
HARLEM HAS BEEN BUILDING THIS FOR YEARS
The free clinic may have captured attention during the U.S. Open, but the work did not begin this summer.
The Harlem Junior Tennis & Education Program has developed a broader model that combines tennis with education and wellness. Its programs move young players from introductory tennis through increasingly competitive levels, with an emphasis on both athletic and academic achievement.
The organization has also hosted community clinics and developmental opportunities throughout 2026, including a Community Combine that brought together young athletes ages 8 to 18 for training, assessment and development.
That is the difference between an event and an ecosystem.
One afternoon can introduce a child to tennis.
A sustained program can change the trajectory of a young person’s life.
FREE REALLY DOES MATTER
Another organization, New York Junior Tennis & Learning, is approaching access from another direction.
Its Community Tennis Program provides free tennis programming for young people across New York City, including programming at Howard Bennett Playground in Harlem. Current fall programming lists free sessions for children ages 5 to 18.
And sometimes the program has to get creative.
Schools without available gyms have used hallways, cafeterias and auditoriums to give students a place to play.
Think about that.
No perfect court.
No elaborate facility.
Just a willingness to figure it out.
The lesson becomes bigger than tennis.
We make room for what we believe matters.
WHO GETS TO DREAM?
There is another question hiding underneath all of this.
Who gets to imagine themselves becoming a professional athlete?
Who gets to see a player who looks like them and think, Maybe I could do that?
Who gets to believe that a sport belongs to them?
Representation matters because imagination is often the first step toward ambition.
When Harlem children see professional athletes walking onto a court, picking up a racket and talking to them about their own journeys, the distance between “professional athlete” and “kid from Harlem” becomes a little smaller.
The dream becomes tangible.
And tangible dreams are powerful.
THE HARLEM MODEL
There is a larger lesson here for Harlem’s cultural future.
We often talk about access to arts and culture.
We talk about access to music.
Access to theater.
Access to museums.
Access to education.
We should talk about access to sports in exactly the same way.
Because a healthy cultural ecosystem gives young people multiple doors through which they can discover themselves.
One child may find an orchestra.
Another may find a stage.
Another may find a paintbrush.
Another may find a tennis racket.
The important thing is that the door is open.
THE COURT IS A CLASSROOM
There is something wonderfully democratic about a tennis court.
The ball does not care where you come from.
The net doesn’t care what your ZIP code is.
The court asks you to show up.
Then it asks you to learn.
Then it asks you to try again.
For a young person, those are valuable lessons.
And Harlem has a long history of understanding that education does not stop when the school bell rings.
Sometimes the classroom is a rehearsal room.
Sometimes it is a theater.
Sometimes it is a music room.
And sometimes it is a tennis court.
HARLEM’S NEXT CHAMPIONS
Maybe the child who picked up a racket at Howard Bennett Playground this summer will never play professionally.
That’s okay.
Maybe they will become a doctor.
A teacher.
An entrepreneur.
An artist.
An engineer.
A community leader.
The goal isn’t necessarily to produce another U.S. Open champion.
The goal is to give young people the opportunity to become champions in their own lives.
That is a much bigger victory.
And if one of those children does someday walk onto a major tennis court, we should remember where the journey began.
It may have started with a free clinic.
A borrowed racket.
A coach who believed.
A neighborhood that made room.
And one little kid thinking:
I can do this.
QUESTION OF THE DAY
What happens when we stop asking whether young people can afford to participate and start asking what we can do to make sure they have the opportunity?
That question belongs to tennis.
But it also belongs to Harlem.
Because the Harlem Renaissance Rebirth isn’t only about preserving what Harlem has created.
It is about creating opportunities for the next generation to discover what they can create.
STAY IN THE MOOD
Put down the phone.
Pick up the racket.
Find a court.
Try something new.
And if you miss the ball?
Try again.
Harlem’s next generation deserves a chance to play.
And sometimes, the first step toward becoming a champion is simply being given the opportunity to enter the game.
Live Your Mood.
