USA Tennis

2026 Women’s Excellence Grant Criteria 

Ages 14–21 

 

The USTA established the USA Tennis Excellence Grant (the “Grant”) to facilitate the development of U.S. Players. The Grant was established to assist Players in reaching the top 100 ATP/WTA ranked professionals.  

U.S. Players achieving the criteria requirements listed below (based on the Players age) may qualify to receive a Grant.

Players that meet one (1) of the criteria boxes below may receive a $3,000 Grant;

Players that meet two (2) of the criteria boxes below may receive an additional $4,000 Grant;

Players that meet three (3) of the criteria boxes below may receive an additional $5,000 Grant. 

A Player may be eligible to receive a total maximum of $12,000 in 2026 based on performance meeting the criteria. 

Players must first submit this form to be eligible for these Excellence Grants.  A new form should be submitted each time the Player meets one of the criteria requirements listed below.  Alternatively, a Player may submit one form after having met all three criteria boxes, after completing those events but before the deadline noted below. 

Each tournament result/ranking is applied only once under these criteria.  A single event/tournament/result/ranking may not be used towards fulfilling more than one of the criteria/requirements listed below. 

Players ranked in the Top 100 WTA Ranking will no longer be eligible to receive Excellence Grants. 

Note: All players must be US citizens at the time the form is submitted and eligible to represent the United States in International Team Competitions. Players must submit a W-9 and other supporting documentation validating the items checked above (e.g., screenshot of tournament results) to the Player Services Team (ustapdplayerservice@usta.com). Once the request is approved, you will receive a Grant Recipient letter for execution via DocuSign for you and your parent/guardian to sign. All Excellence Grant requests must be submitted by December 15, 2026, for the 2026 year. Only 2026 results may be submitted and applied to the Grant criteria. It’s the player's sole responsibility to submit the Grant Request by or before the December 15th deadline.  Grant requests not received by the December 15th deadline will not be reviewed or approved. Grant determinations are at the sole discretion of USA Tennis.