USTA League captains: For the love of the game

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.

Captaining a USTA League team is a labor of love for those ambitious enough to take on the position. From recruiting their roster to setting lineups and scouting opponents, the very best captains see the big picture as clearly as Hawk-Eye.

Marisa Grotell of USTA Middle States has led her team to sectionals or beyond in each of the eight years she's been a captain. She has twice advanced to Nationals, including this year with her women's 40 & over 3.0 team.

"I really take captaining seriously," said Grotell, whose team finished in second place in Scottsdale, Ariz. "When I form a team, I know that I'm going for advancement. I go and scout the players that I want and they know up front when they're joining, we're going to do our best and we're going to try and advance all the way through the season and districts and sectionals and get to Nationals."

With an MBA in statistics, Grotell uses her analytical background to help guide her lineup decisions. She uses TennisLink extensively to scout opponents, looking for potentially inflated ratings as well as common lineups and doubles teams.

Read more: Newbies to Nationals: USTA League players discover a lifetime sport

On his more competitive teams, he makes sure to play his top players in big matches. On his more casual teams, he prioritizes equal playing time.

"I prefer players that are committed, when you know everybody wants to play every match," he said. "But that doesn’t always happen.”

On some of his best 18 & over teams, Mulero has brought together a mix of players of all ages, from recent college graduates to senior citizens.

"When you're at a certain level, you're at a certain level. It doesn't matter your age," he explained. "If you're a 4.0 at 50 years old and a 4.0 at 22 years old, it's the same skill level. Usually I'll have the younger guy playing singles if he's a single player, but not necessarily."

"I think one of the reasons I was tapped into it is because I'm kind of a Type A personality," she said of her instant success. "I'm an organizer. I'm into the details. And so I think it sort of suits my personality style to take this on.”

A frequent user of TennisLink for scouting purposes, Carothers says she feels a strong duty to prepare her team as best as possible. With a roster of 19, 15 of whom travelled to the USTA National Campus, Carothers prefers to seek the opinions of her team rather than make unilateral decisions when it comes to lineups.

"We had a couple of people involved really closely with the plans and what we were going to do. And I just didn't want to make a decision for the team in a silo," she explained. "And so I think what stands out to me is it just seemed like everybody sort of weighed in and brought ideas and it really ended up being a team effort, versus any one person running the show."