Fault Line

Junior Sectionals in Southern California used to matter. It was a tournament kids aspired to play and families planned around. Today, it feels like an afterthought—buried at the Lakewood Tennis Center and scheduled in a way that actively discourages participation. Sectionals are now played in the middle of the school week in early June. That’s not a quiet time for students—it’s finals, graduations, and end-of-year obligations. Asking families to miss multiple school days for the section’s...

When the United States Tennis Association restructured mixed doubles at the US Open, it was framed as a modernizing tweak—a way to boost visibility, attract fans, and better showcase the sport. In reality, the change revealed something far more consequential: tennis no longer believes it can sustain a broad professional class. Instead, it has chosen to double down on star power—and, in doing so, quietly admitted that everyone else no longer fits the business model. What Changed Beginning in...

Southern California has one of the deepest junior tennis pools in the country. The climate is ideal, the court inventory is massive, and the level of play—especially at the top—is strong. And yet junior tennis here is increasingly distorted by an unhealthy obsession with points and rankings. For many players and parents, tournaments are chosen not for the quality of competition but for the number of points on offer. Families travel hours—or fly out of state—for marginal ranking gains, even...