Katrina Adams had a fair bit of success when she was a top doubles player during the 1980s and 1990s.
She won the NCAA doubles title in 1987, then went on to win 20 doubles titles on the pro tour and reached the quarterfinals or better in doubles at all four Grand Slam events. Pretty good. Winning never gets old, but Adams, the first Black person to lead the United States Tennis Association, experienced a different sort of satisfaction recently when she got a call from the International Olympic Committee and learned she was being named its ‘Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion’ Champion for 2023.
The GEDI Champion, previously known as the Women and Sport Award, recognizes the work of a person or an organization in opening up sports to lesser-served groups, something that was a hallmark of Adams’ tenure running the USTA.
“Thrilled, honored and humbled,” Adams, who grew up in Chicago and attended Northwestern University, said of the award, though she very quickly made it clear she never set out on this path for the acclaim. “The work that I do is not to be recognized or to be receiving awards for it. It’s because it’s from the heart. These are things that I believe in.”
No one would argue with that. As a vice-president at the International Tennis Federation,…
