Jonathan O’Brien on his way to the finals at a recent Gay and Lesbian Tennis Alliance tournament, the Capital Classic XXII, hosted by the Capital Tennis Association. (Photo courtesy Chris Burch Photography)

The last three years have seen much attention on the diversity training and programs that are in place in professional sports in the United States.

In 1993, the United States Tennis Association began an initiative to focus on minority participation in the tennis community. By 2003, the initiative became a department known as USTA Diversity & Inclusion.

They have established five targeted guides to reach out to key minority communities across the United States that include African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics and the LGBT community.

The guides are distributed to local programs and clubs and community tennis associations throughout the 17 established geographical Association sections in the United States with the goal that anyone from anywhere should be able to compete and play the sport of tennis.

“This outreach program has been built to attract and retain members in the USTA,” says D.A. Abrams, chief diversity officer of the Association. “Diversity is fine, but you need the inclusion.”

Back in 2010, the Gay and Lesbian Tennis Alliance met with the Association for the first time to discuss how they could both benefit from collaborating together.

The Alliance is the international governing body for the LGBT tennis community and sponsors about 65 tournaments for its 10,000 members throughout the world. Just last month, the two governing bodies signed a partnership agreement which will create a formal link between the two entities.

“The fact that a national governing body such as the USTA has partnered with the international GLTA speaks volumes about their commitment to us,” says Dan Merrithew, Alliance commissioner/secretary.

The Association was established in 1881, has 700,000 members and invests 100 percent of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, from the grassroots level to the professional levels.

The only tennis organization the United States Tennis Association has ever partnered with before this agreement is the American Tennis Association, which is the oldest African-American sports organization in the United States.

“We don’t normally sponsor or partner with tennis organizations,” says Abrams of the United States Tennis Association. “This partnership was a mixture of a good business decision and the right thing to do.”

The partnership agreement will involve tournament support, advertising, media associated with tours, press releases, logos, merchandise and more.

The Alliance hosts an annual tour championship where the top eight ranked players in each division (Open, A, B, C, D singles and doubles) compete for the respective world titles, becoming essentially an LGBT Grand Slam of tennis.

The event rotates between two consecutive years in North America followed by one year in Europe. At the championship in Palm Springs, CA from Feb. 6-8, the event will be titled the GLTA World Tour Championships sponsored by the United States Tennis Association.

According to Merrithew, the partnership is going to offer more exposure for LGBT tennis clubs around the United States and encourage more players to join.

“Tennis is still very much a white country club sport in the United States and many people don’t feel welcome in the USTA leagues,” Merrithew says. “This partnership sends a clear message to kids that it is OK to be gay and play tennis.”

Another area that will be addressed in the outreach is the pockets of the U.S. where there are no LGBT tennis clubs such as North Dakota and South Dakota along with outreach in other countries around the world.

The Alliance now has a tournament and club in Cape Town, South Africa and is in the process of developing clubs in South America.

There is still one more thing that the Alliance is hoping to achieve.

“LGBT Day at the U.S. Open is something that many of us have been thinking about for a long time,” Merrithew says.