USTA St. Louis set for terrific outdoor adult league season

With the outdoor league season just around the corner, USTA St. Louis is seeking captain and team commitments for its Adult 40+, Adult 55+ and Mixed 18+ offerings.

The 40+ and 55+ leagues will once again be overseen by Lisa Lamb (40plus@ustastl.com). And the mixed leagues will be overseen by Liz Lahm (mixed@ustastl.com).

There is always room for more teams and more players in any of our leagues. If you are interested in finding a team or becoming a captain our adult player liaison, Lori Divin, works with our players and captains to help build teams. Divin can be reached at playtennis@ustastl.com.

Adult 40+, Adult 55+ and Mixed 18+ team commitments are due April 5. A separate team commitment form is available for each league:

• USTA St. Louis: 40+ Team Commitment Form

• USTA St. Louis: 55+ Team Commitment Form

• USTA St. Louis: Mixed 18+ Team Commitment Form

Changes in section championship dates for both the Adult 40+ and Adult 55+ leagues have placed these events earlier in the last couple of years, which has put limitations on the length of both leagues. USTA St. Louis’s goal is to provide 6 to 8 matches in the 55+ league, and 7 to 10 matches in the 40+ league. The number of matches will vary by level and is determined by the number of teams within a level.

To make room for both leagues—and new for 2024—what was previously the 55+ evening league will now be the 55+ weekend league. Matches will be played on either Saturday or Sunday mornings starting the weekend of May 5. The 55+ day league for 7.0 Women will be moving to Thursdays. The move to the weekend is a positive change on many fronts—players will not be battling traffic, running out of daylight or enduring late afternoon heat.

The 40+ league, while remaining on the same days/times for both evening and day leagues, is also experiencing some change. The USTA National Championship has changed to a new five-court format for 2024—four courts of doubles and one court of singles. The USTA Missouri Valley Section Championships will follow this same format, and therefore USTA St. Louis will as well. Local league matches will involve nine players per team.

40+ evening leagues (6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Locations will vary):

• Monday: 3.0 Women and 3.5 Men

• Tuesday: 4.0 Men, 4.5 Men and 4.5 Women

• Wednesday: 3.5 Women

• Thursday: 2.5 Women, 3.0 Men and 4.0 Women

40+ day leagues will play 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. or 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.:

• Tuesday: 3.5 WD

• Wednesday: 4.0 WD

The Mixed 18+ league will continue as it has in past years. However, we do have a new level this year: Mixed 10.0! All levels will continue to play on weeknights from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. The format will continue to be three courts of mixed doubles. Days of play and location:

• 6.0 – Tuesday (Dwight Davis: May 14 to July 30)

• 7.0 – Tuesday/Thursday (The Highlands: May 29 to Aug. 6)

• 8.0 – Monday/Wednesday (The Highlands: May 29 – Aug. 6)

• 9.0 – Thursday (Dwight Davis: June 6 – Aug. 8)

• 10.0 – Tuesday (CBC Cadet Park: June 4 – July 9)

Information about our Mixed 40+, Mixed 55+, Tri-level and Mixed Tri-level leagues will be coming soon as well, so stay tuned for those announcements.

We look forward to seeing returning teams and hope to see some new teams and faces as well. If you have questions about any of our leagues our adult program manager, Sherry Taylor, can be reached at leagues@ustastl.com or give us a call at 314-432-3990.