Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame Honors Two People With NYC Roots

USTA Eastern and the Junior Tennis Foundation inducted five individuals into the Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame on August 19 at the Metropolitan Club in Manhattan—and two members of the 2025 class have strong roots in the NYC-Metro area. Longtime coach and former Alley Pond Tennis Center Director of Programs Carol Watson and former Eastern junior and philanthropist Jeffrey Appel received the section’s highest honor for a lifetime of service to the sport. Below, learn a little bit more about the NYC-based inductees.

Jeffrey Appel

Whitney Kraft—the longtime former director of tennis at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center—nicknamed Jeffrey Appel the “Mayor of New York Tennis”. With good reason, the name stuck. For nearly three decades, Appel—who helms JDA Funds Management, an alternative investment firm—has channeled his lifelong passion for the game into action, leveraging his extensive network to elevate the prominence of the sport and support those who play it.

Among Appel’s list of ‘mayoral’ accomplishments: hosting a wide range of charity tournaments that have raised millions of dollars for various causes; connecting talented juniors with the resources they require to continue their journey in the game; and—what he takes the most pride in—mentoring former professional and collegiate tennis players as they transition off-court to careers in Wall Street and beyond.

In service to that mission, each year Appel organizes the Finance Cup, an annual event that pits former ATP and NCAA players who now work fulltime in finance against their European counterparts. Appel envisions the event—which recently celebrated its tenth anniversary—as an opportunity for the participating athletes-turned-Wall Street professionals to play, connect and develop bonds with some of the titans of the industry. Participants over the years have included 2016 Wimbledon finalist and former world No. 3 Milos Raonic, former world No. 7 Mario Ancic, former world No. 48 Jared Donaldson and former world No. 1 doubles players Alex O’Brien and Richey Reneberg.

Fostering mentorship opportunities like the Cup is one of Appel’s greatest joys. He notes that over the course of the last 25 years, he has helped more than 120 former professional and collegiate tennis players find their footing in the business world. Students from schools all over the country have benefited from Appel’s guidance and generosity.

Of course, Appel’s generosity extends beyond those looking to work in business; he has helped many different people through tennis in a variety of capacities. For the past 13 years, he has chaired the USTA Foundation’s annual pro-am at the US Open. He has also championed the work of a number of NJTLs, including the Harlem Junior Tennis & Education Program (HJTEP) in New York and the Junior Tennis Champions Center (JTCC) in College Park, Maryland.

Appel’s commitment to the sport stretches back to his own childhood in Great Neck, New York. He was a ranked Eastern junior in multiple age divisions and started all four years on the legendary Great Neck North High School tennis team, ultimately leading the squad as the #2 singles player his senior year. As he went on to build a career on Wall Street, his desire to compete never wavered. In 2009, he achieved the No. 1 year-end ranking in the Eastern Men’s 45s singles division and the No. 12 ranking nationally in singles.

Still, for all his competitive playing successes over decades, Appel reiterates that those achievements ultimately pale in comparison to the work he’s completed outside the painted lines. He’s immensely proud of the community he’s built in New York and globally, as well as all the young people he’s helped along the way.

“I’m a good tennis player,” he says. “But I’m much better off the court.”

Carol Watson

When Carol Watson was just nine years old, she spent a weekend with her Aunt Gloria in downtown Brooklyn. During that visit, she hung out at a park with her aunt and uncle and watched them hit a tennis ball back and forth. Very little time passed before Watson—already a gifted athlete in several other sports—made a confident declaration from the sidelines.

“I said, ‘I could beat you both and I don’t even know this game!’” she recalls now with a laugh. “So they gave me a racquet and I played with them, and then I went home [to St. Albans, Queens] and I told my mom about it. She said, ‘Great! Let’s get you playing tennis.’

That competitive drive is no doubt what propelled Watson to achieve such a fruitful, long-lasting career in the sport. One of the most prodigious juniors to come out of the Eastern section in the late 1970s, Watson spent 10 years traveling the globe on the professional circuit, attaining Top 200 rankings in both singles and doubles and competing in at least the qualifying round of all four Grand Slams. As her time on the tour began to wind down, she transitioned into coaching and became the second woman and first African American to accept a position with the USTA Player Development Program—a nascent initiative focused on preparing top American juniors for international competition. In this role, Watson spent nearly two decades helping future stars like Lindsay Davenport, Lisa Raymond and Chanda Rubin refine their games.

The position gave Watson a front row seat to the next generation of American talent. Traveling internationally with Davenport, Rubin et al., Watson got an early glimpse of matchups that would become staples of the business end of Grand Slams six, seven, eight years down the road.

“I saw them playing against [Amelie] Mauresmo, I saw them playing against [Martina] Hingis, I saw them playing against a lot of players,” Watson says. “I told them, ‘If you guys want this career, you can do it, because you are right here.’ You could see it. You could just see the way they tackle stuff, how they can handle themselves at 5-5 in the final set. They didn’t crumble. They knew how to play through pressure, and some players can’t do that. And guess what? They went on to do really well!’”

After leaving Player Development in the mid-2000s, Watson received a call from Hemel Cosme, a friend from her early junior days in Queens. Cosme took ownership of the Alley Pond Tennis Center in Queens and invited Watson to join her. Watson agreed and served as the facility’s director of programs for 17 years, handling everything from coaching to hiring to running the daily operations.

Today, Watson—who retired in 2022 and has since relocated to Florida—is channeling her competitive energy into playing golf.

But not for a second has she forgotten any of the lessons she’s learned from hitting a fuzzy ball back and forth over a net.

“Tennis has been a remarkable tool in my life,” she says. “It has taught me that success isn’t solely about winning or losing, but about resilience. It encompasses problem-solving, navigating diverse personalities, and adapting to different playing styles. All these facets are integral to a single sport. So much of my character today was shaped by tennis.”

The other members of the 2025 Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame induction class include: Historian and former player Art Carrington, former top junior and club owner Jeff Miller and renowned agent Jill Smoller. Proceeds from the induction ceremony will benefit the JTF, which provides grants and financial assistance to tennis programs and organizations that focus on underserved and at-risk youth and people with disabilities.

Visit juniortennisfoundation.org to learn more or make a donation.