Katrina Adams is the Chairman of the Board, CEO and President of the United States Tennis Association, a position she assumed in January 2015. In this role, she also serves as Chairman of the US Open.
Adams is the first African-American, first former professional tennis player and youngest person to serve as President in the organization’s 135-year history. She is also the first individual to serve a second two-year term as Chairman of the Board, CEO and President.
In 2015, Adams was elected Vice President of the International Tennis Federation. And in 2016, she was appointed Chairman of the Fed Cup Committee, which governs Fed Cup, the largest annual international team competition in women’s sport. She also serves on the board of directors for the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
An accomplished pro, Adams played for 12 years on the WTA tour. She ranked as high as No. 67 in the world in singles and No. 8 in doubles, winning 20 career doubles titles and reaching the quarterfinals or better in doubles at all four Grand Slam events. Her best Grand Slam singles result was reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon in 1988.
While an active pro, Adams served on the board of directors of the WTA as a player representative for four one-year terms and on the WTA’s Players Association for five two-year terms. After leaving the tour, Adams was a USTA National Tennis Coach from 1999 to 2002. She joined the USTA’s Board of Directors in 2005, serving as a Director at Large and as the association’s Vice President and First Vice President before assuming the presidency.
Adams attended and played her collegiate tennis at Northwestern University, majoring in communications and helping the Wildcats to Big Ten championships in 1986 and 1987. She was named the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Rookie of the Year in 1986 and an NCAA All-American in 1986 and 1987. Also in 1987, she became the first African-American to win the NCAA doubles title.
Among her many accolades, Adams was honored with the WTA’s Player Service Award in 1989, 1996 and 1997, and she received the WTA Althea Gibson Award in 2003. In addition, she was inducted into the Northwestern Hall of Fame in 1998, the USTA Midwest Section Hall of Fame in 2005, the Chicago District Tennis Hall of Fame in 2008, the Black Tennis Hall of Fame in 2012, the ITA Women’s Tennis Hall of Fame in 2014 and the USTA Eastern Section Tennis Hall of Fame in 2015. Also in 2015, she was named one of the “25 Influential Black Women in Business” by The Network Journal and as one of Sports Business Daily’s “Game Changers.” In 2016, she was inducted into the Boys & Girls Clubs of America Alumni Hall of Fame.
In addition to her duties with the USTA, Adams is a contributor on CBS Sports Network’s first all-female sports show, “We Need to Talk.” She also serves as a television analyst for Tennis Channel and as a contributor to Tennis magazine and tennis.com, providing instructional articles and videos.
Moreover, since 2005 Adams has served as the Executive Director of the Harlem Junior Tennis and Education Program, a National Junior Tennis & Learning network (NJTL) chapter based in New York City. A Chicago native, Adams currently lives in White Plains, N.Y., and is a member of the USTA Eastern Section.