USTA League, HEAD Penn Racquet Sports Partner Up for Another Five Years

The USTA has announced a five-year renewal of the partnership between HEAD Penn Racquet Sports and the USTA League program.  The partnership, which began in 1987, will be celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. As part of the agreement, HEAD Penn will provide performance Penn tennis balls for all USTA League Sectional and National Championships. 

Over the past 30 years, Penn has donated well over two million tennis balls during their sponsorship of USTA League, in addition to providing captains’ gifts and door prizes at sectional and national championships.

Established in 1980, USTA League has grown from 13,000 participants in a few parts of the country in its first year, to more than 325,000 players across the nation today.  Players compete in an average of three leagues each, which brings total player registration to more than 900,000 annually, making USTA League the world’s largest recreational tennis league.

USTA League was established to provide adult recreational tennis players throughout the country with the opportunity to compete with players of similar ability levels.  USTA League is administered by the USTA throughout its 17 Sections, and groups players by using six National Tennis Rating Program (NTRP) levels, ranging from 2.5 (entry) to 5.0 (advanced).  USTA League is open to players 18 years of age or older. 

“Our partnership with Head Penn is one of the longest and most successful relationships in the industry,” said USTA Managing Director of Adult Tennis & Association Services, Jeff Waters. “We are thrilled to be renewing this agreement with Head Penn and look forward to working together to continue increasing participation in the USTA League program.”

“Our long-standing partnership with the USTA League program is something we take incredible pride in,” said Greg Mason, President of HEAD Penn Racquet Sports.  “Supporting players of all levels as they reach for their goal to be the best is exactly what Penn stands for as the dominant US ball brand and our ongoing mission of staying the leader.”

Penn has also built meaningful partnerships with PTR and the ATP World Tour which includes being the official ball of ATP tournaments in Indian Wells, Key Biscayne and Cincinnati. 

ABOUT HEAD PENN TENNIS

HEAD PENN TENNIS, a part of HEAD BV, is a global provider and marketer of premium branded tennis apparel, footwear, and equipment for athletes of all competitive levels. Since its launch in the late 1960s, when HEAD founder Howard Head first introduced the aluminum tennis racquet, the division’s key products have attained leading market positions based on sales and reputation. Many of today´s top ATP and WTA players, including Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Richard Gasquet, Tomas Berdych, Marin Cilic, and Sloane Stephens are part of the HEAD Tennis family. For more information, please visit: www.head.com/tennis.

The USTA is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the U.S. and the leader in promoting and developing the growth of tennis at every level -- from local communities to the highest level of the professional game. A not-for-profit organization with more than 715,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds in growing the game. It owns and operates the US Open, the highest-attended annual sporting event in the world, and launched the US Open Series, linking seven summer WTA and ATP World Tour tournaments to the US Open. In addition, it owns approximately 90 Pro Circuit events throughout the U.S. and selects the teams for the Davis Cup, Fed Cup, Olympic and Paralympic Games. The USTA’s philanthropic entity, the USTA Foundation, provides grants and scholarships and helps under-resourced youth and individuals with disabilities, and supports  wounded, ill and injured service members, veterans and their families. For more information on the USTA, log on to usta.com, “like” the official Facebook page, facebook.com/usta, or follow @usta on Twitter.