Newbies to Nationals: USTA League players discover a lifetime sport

The 2024 USTA League National Championships took place from Oct. 18 to Nov. 10 at four locations, including at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla. To celebrate the 2024 League season, USTA.com highlights some of this year's competitors.

Tennis is a sport for a lifetime, no matter what stage of life you start. While some pick up the game for fun, many USTA League competitors began playing as adults before quickly progressing to competition.

A pair of former collegiate and pro soccer players were part of the women's 40 & over 3.5 team that represented Texas at League Nationals. Tiffany Boshers played for Baylor before playing professionally in Australia, while Holly Myers competed at Southern Methodist University (SMU) before playing in the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA)—the nation's first professional women's soccer league.

Myers dabbled in tennis as a kid but has taken up the game anew in recent years. In June, she clinched her team's spot at League Nationals by winning a three-and-a-half hour match in sectionals.

"It was crazy," she said of the decisive match. "We won and our team rushed the court and I'm like, 'How am I having this sports moment at 40-plus years old? This is awesome!'"

Boshers picked up the game in 2022 as a complete beginner, having grown up playing almost every sport outside of tennis. Two years later, she was part of a team that competed for a national title at the USTA National Campus.

"Tennis to me is a whole new world," she told USTA.com. "So all this has just been a whirlwind of fun for me. I am a very competitive person, my whole life with sports, so to be able to get back into something competitive and being driven with a purpose for your workouts, I love it."

Grotell, who lives with lupus and other autoimmune diseases, began playing tennis in 2014 for her health. Armed with a new racquet and a fresh tennis outfit, she was immediately hooked. Now she plays almost every day.

"Tennis is my lifesaver," she said. "And my doctor told me, 'I want you to play every day that you can play it.' It's the best thing for me, and I love it so much."

While gym workouts like weightlifting and the treadmill can be taxing and sometimes detrimental to the muscles of a lupus patient, Grotell says that the cardio and movement of tennis—plus the built-in breaks in between points and during changeovers—make it the perfect sport for her health. Not to mention the cognitive and mental benefits.

"It’s like a game of chess to me," she shared. "It just keeps me focused, it keeps me on my toes and it powers my brain every day. It gets it to the next level so that I just stay healthy overall: mind, body and soul."