Katrina Adams talks to Tony Harris

Tony Harris: So let me just say this to you. You're not supposed to be the president of the United States Tennis Association.

Katrina Adams: Why?

You're an African-American woman. This is one of the most elite sports ever in the history of organized sports. How did this happen, Katrina?

It's been 133 years since we were founded. So it is an honor to be the first. But I look at it as being someone who's been successful in the game, cares about the game, who has always given back to the game. And with my involvement in the sport from that, being a nonprofit organization, the Harlem Junior Tennis and Education Program, working with grass roots, as I've worked my way up through the system of the USTA — I've been on the board for 10 years, in my 11th year now —why not me?

What have you found? Have you found it a difficult rise? Have there been challenges? Did you have to push on the door? Or was the door kind of ajar, and you were able just to sort of nudge it? What do you think?

I don't think I had to fight for it. I was just being me. And being me is, you know, being a good listener. Always understanding what needs to be done to evolve. And I've always been about evolution. Because a lot of people don't know who we are.

They see the U.S. Open, they see tournaments, they see leagues and say, "Oh, well, you know, to be a USTA member, that's what it's about." But it's not. I mean, we're about growing the game, putting people on the court, getting rackets in children's hands all the way up to Super Seniors and keeping them in the game. And it's about providing opportunities for inner-city youth who are in JTL [Junior Tennis League] programs. And about diversity. It's about inclusion. And once you really understand that and understand that our sections and our states and our districts are really responsible for getting people in the game and keeping them involved, then you get a better feeling. And that's what I got from being on the board of USTA. And I wanted to have an opportunity to go all the way to the top.

What do you see as your core mission? What would you like for folks to say about your tenure when you're done in two years? And the challenge of getting your particular goals accomplished?

The main message that I'm giving to our members and our volunteers — it's about getting back to the ABCs so that we can accomplish the XYZs. That starts with accountability, behavior and communication.

Being accountable for what we're putting out there and for what our goals are and trying to accomplish our mission. Making sure that our behavior is engaging and that it's inclusive and that we're inviting. And communicating who we are and what we do. And not just with potential members but with our volunteers, with our business partners, with our viewers. And with our fans, especially when it comes to the U.S. Open. And in order to do that, we have to start at the top to make sure that we're laying out proper goals for ourselves, to make sure that we can accomplish them. And then, part of my goals is making sure that we grow our Hispanic base here, in the U.S., the fastest-growing population in America. And we've barely tapped into these communities to get the kids involved, get the parents involved, get the grandparents involved. It's about really being inclusive of the entire family and embracing them. But going out and making sure we're sending the right messengers out delivering the right message so that they want to be involved in the sport and understand the value of what tennis can do for them.

I also am focusing on our high school kids. We have almost 400,000 high school players. We have a no-cut policy within the U.S. 

If you want to play, you get to play.

If you want to play, if your best friend's on the team and you want to be on the team, come on out. But then, we only have those kids that are there for six, eight weeks through the high school season. I want to make sure that they're following up with tennis after that and they have a place to go and truly learn the sport and become more engaged and, hopefully, stay in the sport for a lifetime.

The Hispanic outreach, that could be huge for tennis in America. 

Well, I've put together a Hispanic engagement advisory group, which involves a lot of our leaders here, in the U.S., some board members, some section leaders, some staff members, et cetera, around the country, who are really coming up with a plan. It's a group effort. It takes a village. And hopefully, we have the right village to really go out and be successful.

Katrina, you are the [Barack] Obama of tennis in America. That's so over-the-top, isn't it? Yes, you are the president of the United States Tennis Association. So President Obama, every year, gives the State of the Union address. And at some point, he says, "The state of the union is strong." What's the state of tennis in America?

The state right now is that it's positive. We're growing. And if I can be as impactful as I think I'm being right now, the sky's the limit for what we can do in growing tennis in America.

How were you introduced to the game?

I got lucky. I stumbled on it. I'm where I am today because of my parents. And because of that summer my parents were teaching summer school and I was a tag-along little sister with my two brothers that were in a program that was sponsored by the Martin Luther King Boys Club in Chicago. Every summer, they had a different activity. That summer happened to be tennis. And happened to be four blocks away from home, where we walked. I was 6; they were 12 and 14. They hated tennis. I was the ultimate tomboy, because my oldest brother used to always beat up on me and wrestle and make sure I was engaged in sports, because I was his excuse to be able to go hang out with his friends. So I could throw a ball. I could hit a ball. I could do all those things. So when it came to tennis, I had to sit outside the fence for two weeks watching all of these kids between the ages of 9 and 18 have fun and, in my opinion, not know what they were doing out there.

And I'm a visual learner. So after watching them and begging for two weeks, when I walked on the court, I literally started playing tennis. And the coaches were amazed. My brothers were in shock. Because I could actually put the ball over the net in the court without it going bing, bing, bing.

With some stroke development, because you had been watching?

I'd been watching. I already could play softball. I could already throw a ball. I was throwing a spiral football at 6. So that's a service motion. And so, at the end of that summer, I was the most improved player from the camp that summer. I got a little trophy, which I still have in my possession. I've taken it everywhere that I've lived.

And one of the coaches, Tony Fox, was like, "Hey, I'd love to be able to work with her, you know, during the school year." So we started playing one day a week, really, on the weekends, at an indoor facility. It wasn't an indoor facility. It was a basketball court that had basketball lines, volleyball lines, tennis lines.

You were playing tennis on a basketball court?

Absolutely. So you're talking about lightning fast. It was a group lesson. I started there. And then, one day a week, we went to another Boys Club on the West Side. Then the Old Town Boys Club, where they had a net set up. And so I developed a fast court game at a very early age. I was a serve and volleyer for a reason. You didn't really want the ball to bounce so much on a basketball court. And then, finally, the following summer came. I was in a program which was from June to August. Played my first tournament, which was the ATA nationals, in New Orleans. So, mind you, I'd been playing tennis for a year. My first tournament is in New Orleans. So we get in the car, and we drive down to New Orleans. And I'm playing in the ATA nationals with a thousand other people when it came from ages boys and girls 10 to 18, all the way up to men.

You had to have been intimidated.

You know what? No. Because I was that cocky. I was such a cocky little kid. Not saying that much has changed. But it was fun. I mean, to be able to be around so many other kids and really say, "Wow, this is exciting." And, for me, it was all about the trophy. So you get there, and you see this table full of all these trophies. And I was like, "Wow, you get trophies?" And from, really, that moment on, it was about trophies for me.

The friends and family network that coordinate all of this, they make huge sacrifices, don't they to help you enjoy and move on in the game, right?

Let me tell you. My parents have been unbelievable. Obviously, without them, I wouldn't be where I am. They were teachers. We were considered middle class, growing up on the West Side of Chicago. And they didn't know tennis. They never played tennis. To this day, they still haven't played tennis.

Wow.

But they wanted to support me and my brothers, whatever it is that we wanted to do, and they found a way. We made a lot of sacrifices. When you're a kid, you have no idea what that means. As you get older and you realize the amount of money that it takes or that it took based on what they made, I truly understood the sacrifices that they made. But it was also the relationship that they built with my coaches, with clubs, with other organizations, people that were supporting me that I had no idea were supporting me that may have been chipping in on some of the travel expenses.

So they did an amazing job. But that's also where I get my sense of giving back. 

What was the moment where you said, "I really want to go for this, and I think I can be successful." Was there a moment?

That's a very good question. I would say as a junior, I was just about getting to the next tournament. You didn't see tennis the way you see it now. Every day, looking on television, you're watching the pros and you can aspire to be that and knowing that it's a possibility. When I was growing up, I never knew that that was really a possibility because the environment that I grew up in was not a tennis environment, right? So I didn't understand what being a professional was. I had a goal at 12 to be a professional, but I still didn't know what that meant and how to do it.

What do you consider the high point of your professional career?

You know, there's every year was something different. I think your first year is always the most special. Because then you start to play all the majors, and you play in all the tournaments and traveling the world, and everything is new and exciting.

I will say, in that first year, at Wimbledon, you know, when you walk through the hallowed grounds of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, and you're like, "Wow," this is what you've been seeing. And the first summer that I picked up a racket was the first time I saw Arthur Ashe on television, the summer of 1975, winning Wimbledon.

Tell me about the program you run in Harlem and how important that is to you.

The Harlem Junior Tennis and Education Program is how I got to New York. I'm in my 10th year there now. It's about providing kids an opportunity to be better individuals. Not just better tennis players but better citizens. And so we're not only creating champions on the court but off the court. It's about tutoring, mentoring, life skills, being big brothers, big sisters, aunts, uncles. Whatever it is that we need to be for the kids in that program is amazing. 

Why do you love the game?

I'm a competitor in everything that I do. I love to compete. And there's no other sport that can really provide the level of competition with yourself. It's not just against someone else but challenging yourself to be the best, to be able to focus, to be able to deal with adversity, to be able to build your self-esteem and your self-confidence, to be fit, to run around, to really show your true personality on the court.

Talk me through some of the changes coming to the National Tennis Center and what the experience is going to be like.

We are so excited about what's going on here. We're putting a roof, finally, on Arthur Ashe Stadium. You know, this has been in the making for us for about 10 years, when we first started talking about it. But — when? — 10 years, five years ago, even, we couldn't afford it. It's a big project. The size of Arthur Ashe Stadium is huge, the open part. And to put a roof on that, the weight of it would have been too much. So we finally found a developer and an architect that built something that's on the outside. It's more like a canopy. We are in phase two. Last year we put all the pilings in the ground, as much as 180 feet deep, to be able to support the beams going up. This year we'll have the superstructure finished by the U.S. Open. And then next year we'll put the retractable roof part on. And it's going to be amazing. So that's one of the first thing at hand. We're also building a new grandstand stadium. 

Are you excited about your first U.S. Open as the president of the United States Tennis Association? 

It's very interesting. I am. I'm very excited. But I played the U.S. Open for 12 years. But the position is different. The responsibilities are greater as chairman of the U.S. Open. And so I'm excited to really be in that position for this year and next year. My friends are more excited to see me walk out on the court on Saturday and Sunday and present the finals champion with the trophy. I'm really looking forward to it.

What is it that you want folks to say about your time in this position, when you're done?

People say, "What do you want your legacy to be?" And I'm just about making a difference. I want to change sportsmanship in America. I think the sportsmanship and the behavior of our kids and our parents, in particular, has just gone AWOL from what our sport is about. And if any of those three can be accomplished, then I've done my job and set out and accomplished the goals that I've set forth. But it's really about changing the face of tennis. And making people realize that they too are welcome.

This interview has been edited and condensed