A South Side showcase
Chicago facility hosts only Black-produced event on WTA Tour
It was the third day of the WTA’s Chicago Women’s Open, and everywhere Kamau Murray went, someone was there to meet him.
Dark clouds caused by an impending storm had postponed a match between Elina Svitolina — the Olympic bronze medalist from Ukraine who was the tournament’s No. 1 seed — and Fiona Ferro, so Murray was planning logistics so the match could resume the next day.
Murray had been pulled in so many different directions throughout the day to keep the tournament moving, handling problems as big as a postponement or as small as going out to buy more towels when he realized they were running short.
“Things you don’t think about,” he said. “Those types of things are sort of small things but make a big difference.”
Murray is the founder of XS Tennis, a Black-owned-and-operated tennis facility in Washington Park, which hosted the Chicago Women’s Open this past week. It is the only Black-produced event on the WTA Tour.
The singles final was Saturday, capping the eight-day tournament. Svitolina defeated ninthseeded Alize Cornet of France 7-5, 6-4.
Events like this have been a part of Murray’s vision since he first imagined the XS Tennis facility, which opened in 2017 as a way to bring top-level tennis to the city and to serve inner-city youth on the South Side.
“Chicago has a great tennis community,” Murray said. “And they deserve to be able to see tennis in their backyard.”
And Murray was intentional about how he built the event.
He found Black vendors for the project. The catering was done by Black people. He got the signage from a Black-owned printer, hired Black event planners and public relations staff and found volunteers mostly from around the South Side community.
“There’s not a lot of Black people that are in tennis at any level,” Murray said. “Whether it’s agents, running events, suppliers for events, players, coaches, trainers — not a lot of us. So this was a good opportunity to also build some capacity, some experience with a minority group of people.”
Murray, a former pro coach who helped Sloane Stephens win the 2017 U.S. Open, remembers getting some sideways glances and skepticism when he pitched the idea years ago for the $16.9 million, 13-plus-acre South Side facility.
But when his youth tennis club needed a permanent home after bouncing around a few facilities, he was motivated to get the funding for XS Tennis. It has 27 indoor and outdoor courts, a 10,000-square-foot gym and an academic center with space for training and classrooms.
Murray said the facility serves more than 2,300 members ranging from ages 4 to 18, with chances to work on their tennis and academic programs to help prepare for college entrance exams.
“They feel at home here,” he said.
Tennis came into Murray’s life when he took a trip to Africa with his parents one summer only to return to the United States and find all the Chicago Park District sports programs were full — except for tennis. “A convenient babysitter” is what Murray dubbed it at first, but eventually he fell in love with the sport and credits it for keeping him on the right path as a child.
And Murray wants to give others those same opportunities.
The kids at the academy have served as the ball kids for the tournament, giving them the chance to get up close with pros such as Venus Williams, who was eliminated on the tournament’s first day but hung around the facility for an extra day. One young boy walked through the complex with a T-shirt and hat full of autographs.
“For these kids, being able to interact with these players and be literally courtside, catching the serves that come to the corner,” Murray said, “that’s a life-changing experience.”