Boy's Junior National Tennis Championship

The Boys' Junior National Tennis Championship (a.k.a. the USTA Boys 18s and 16s National Championships and nicknamed Nationals at the Zoo) takes place on the Kalamazoo College campus in Kalamazoo, Michigan. This United States Tennis Association (USTA) event is one of the most important competitions for male 16- and 18-year-olds tennis players, attracting 400 to compete from across the country.

The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body in the United States for the sport of tennis. The USTA was originally known as the United States National Lawn Tennis Association in 1881. The name was changed first to U.S. Lawn Tennis Association, and to the present name in 1975.

The USTA has 17 different sections in different parts of the country, including: New England, Eastern, Middle States, Mid-Atlantic, Southern, Florida, Caribbean, Midwest, Northern, Missouri Valley, Texas, Southwest, Intermountain, Pacific Northwest, Northern California, Southern California, and Hawaii Pacific. Each of these sections have different regulations and procedures, but they all share the same mission statement:

The USTA is a progressive and diverse not-for-profit organization whose volunteers, professional staff, and financial resources support a single mission: to promote and develop the growth of tennis.

Each of the sections was started at a different time, as interest in the sport grew in that location. The USTA Midwest Section started in 1910 as the Western Lawn Tennis Association at the Chicago Beach Club in Chicago, Illinois. It originally controlled all of the tennis clubs west of the Alleghenies Mountains, and had great influence over the USTA at national meetings. When the USTA Midwest proposed a national clay court championship in 1910, the USTA agreed without dissent. In the 1920s, tennis became very popular in America and they started to train junior players.

Originally the tournament was held at West Side Tennis Club in Forrest Hills, New York from 1916 to 1920 and then again in 1927. It moved to Longwood Cricket Club in Boston, Massachusetts from 1921 to 1923. From 1924 to 1926 it was at South Side Tennis Club in Chicago, Illinois. Then it was at Culver Military Academy in Culver, Indiana from 1928 to 1942. Due to WWII, it was necessary to move the tournament from a military base. Dr. Allen Stowe influenced the USTA to relocate the tournament to Kalamazoo College, where he was a coach.

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