Indianapolis has a history of tennis with significant clubs and tournaments at one point. Some of which hosted notable names like Arthur Ashe and Andre Agassi. With this history of tennis dating back to 1922, you’d think this still would be a city to host benchmark tournaments and leagues. At one point it was, with the Indianapolis Racquet Club thriving as the first indoor tennis club to host indoors, allowing it to host ATP tour events and eventually the Indianapolis Tennis Championships. However, due to the strong dependency on the sponsor, facility costs, and timing of it taking place so close to the US Open, this closed the door on what could’ve been a continuous growth and development of hosting tennis in Indianapolis. This goes to say, the Indianapolis Racquet club is still active and produces state and nationwide ranked players.
Indianapolis
Although Louisville out of the four cities has the smallest scale market currently, it has an impactful history that carries such a significance to the world of tennis. Over the years, Louisville has held various tournaments like the Mid-Mac Tennis Tournament, Louisville International Tennis Classic, and Louisville Open. One of the most historically significant ties is the Mid-Mac Tournament held at Chickasaw Park. In West Louisville, the park has served the African American tennis community over the decades and is still continuing to serve the community to this day. In the 1940s, Althea Gibson, the first African American woman to win Wimbledon breaking boundaries for the civil rights era of American Tennis, competed at the Mid-Mac Tournament. Louisville today still has fully functional tennis clubs and programs, but compared to other cities, it seems there is a gap that has been abandoned that the APTL could fill. The reasoning for the Louisville Open not functioning properly was the heavy reliance on sponsorships and hosting only stand-alone events. With the plan of multiple revenue sources through the franchise model, APTL could fill this. Louisville is a city with great potential and a historically rich foundation of the world of tennis and it’s important to bring this back to the city and continue to grow this.
Louisville
With a deep history of tennis and the largest market of the four midwest cities, Chicago has great potential to be a home for APTL. Over the years the city has held various significant professional tennis events. In 1985-87, it held the Chicago Open and the Layver Cup at the United Center in 2018 with names like Federer and Djokovic. This shows there is potential to host and showcase a league that draws a crowd. Chicago is also home to XS Tennis Village, a south side facility that still is operating and home to DePaul University's Tennis team. It features 12 indoor courts, 13 outdoor hard courts, and 4 clay courts, which could be optimal to host a league at. The reason we don’t see a current professional tennis league in Chicago isn’t due to there not being a need for it, but rather the need to have an established location and franchise to root for. We know Chicago has loyal fans in all of their athletic leagues, so establishing one for tennis would impact the city and the league.
Chicago
The history of professional tennis within Cincinnati dates back further than the three other midwest cities. Starting in 1899, the Cincinnati Open is the oldest professional tennis tournament in the United States, hosting over 100 international tennis hall of famers throughout the years. This is what eventually started the Open Era, which allowed for players to compete for prize money. The game of tennis has been a long-standing backbone of athletics for the city of Cincinnati opposed to others. With already hosting the Cincinnati Open, this establishes an opportunity for the APTL to expand upon this and continue to grow an already significant tennis city. We would not be filling a gap, like the other cities, but rather expanding to a spring league that focuses more on community-level rather than takeaway from the professional tournament it currently hosts.