WHM: USTA Southern Director at Large Rainey Johns

For Women's History Month, USTA Southern posed a series of questions to our Southern Tennis Foundation chairman and four women on the USTA Board of Directors.
 

Rainey Johns is a former USTA Kentucky President.

A woman who’s inspired me & why: Peggy Turner of Houston, TX. Peggy is a rockstar in the Parks & Recreation world, specifically in the adaptive sports space, where she has worked for 41 years. She is passionate and kind, but she’s also tenacious in her pursuit of providing equal opportunities for people with disabilities to have access to sports. To say she leaves a life-changing legacy on everyone she meets is an understatement. When all is said and done, I can only hope to have half the impact on others that Peggy has had. She is a trailblazer and inspires me with every conversation, email, and text we exchange, and I am so grateful to call such an amazing human my friend. I can only hope to be like Peggy when I grow up!

Favorite tennis memory: It’s a tie…

• I organized the Junior Team Tennis program at our Parks & Recreation Department, and for the first few years, our teams never won a single game, much less a set or match. Fast forward to the 2021 Kentucky State JTT Tournament, and I watched my team make the finals and take that match to a mixed doubles 10-point match tiebreak. We lost, but I nearly cried I was so proud of those kids and how far they and our program had come.
• Finally walking onto our brand-new courts at Woodford County Park – a lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into getting those courts rebuilt, and to finally see them completed was a really special moment for me.

Fun fact about me: I am obsessed with my dogs.

When not playing tennis, I’d rather be … Hanging out with my family, friends, and dogs, ideally on a beach!

Favorite tennis match I played in: My very first match - I had signed up to play in a 2.5 league, and my first match was in the middle of summer – it had to have been 95 degrees, and I lost in a 3^rd set tie break. The match took about 2.5 hours. I was exhausted, but I loved every second of it!

My favorite tennis match I watched: Tiafoe vs Nadal at the 2022 US Open, got to watch it live and in person.

Dream doubles partner: Anyone who is really fast and really tall (because I’m neither). They also can’t take things too seriously – I love to laugh (always at myself!) and have fun!