Coaching Spotlight: Dale Evans, USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center
Growing up in Oakland in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Dale Evans was a die-hard fan of his beloved Athletics. Baseball was his first love, and he modeled his own game after the Athletics shortstop Walt Weiss, a native New Yorker. Evans played all sports and began tennis at the age of nine among others, but playing baseball was his favorite as a child. However, after a challenging summer all-star team experience when he was young, he became a bit disillusioned with baseball, and decided to focus his attention on tennis.
It would turn out to be one of those pivotal moments in a young person’s life that steers them on the right course as Evans stuck with tennis from that point forward.
“A few weeks later, I ended up playing a large tournament called the Pacific Coast Championships,” he recalls. “It was one of the regional championships of the American Tennis Association (ATA), the oldest African-American sports organization in the United States, and I won the doubles title, and reached the finals of the singles draw. It was a great run, and I pretty much fell in love with tennis during that transition from baseball to tennis.”
His love for tennis translated into a decorated junior career which set him up to play at the next level in college. Out of all the offers he received, one stood out to him above the rest: Jackson State University in Mississippi.
Both of his parents came from big families (each had 15 siblings) in Jackson, Mississippi, and so Evans and his parents frequently traveled down there to visit family. His father would move back to Jackson during Evans’ teen years, and while down there to see him, he often competed in junior tournaments which put him on Jackson State Head Coach Willie Shepard’s radar.
“He started recruiting me when I was a sophomore in high school, and we had a great relationship from that point forward,” Evans said. “That combined with the fact that my dad and other family lived in Jackson, made the decision to play there easy for me.”
In his freshman season, Evans helped lead his team to an undefeated conference record and a berth into the first round of the NCAA Tournament, which was the beginning of a wonderful college experience for him.
As his college career wound down, it was time for Evans to consider the next chapter of his life. He competed briefly, playing in qualifying events for Futures events, but when he did not find much traction there, Evans found himself at a crossroads.
That’s when he leaned on his junior coach and mentor growing up: Mark Manning. Manning was a top junior coach in Northern California, and was the first African American to be President of a USTA Section. Evans debated whether or not he wanted to pursue a professional career in business or marketing, which is when Manning interjected.
“Quite frankly, the impact that Mark Manning had on my life can never be understated,” Evans says proudly. “He guided me into the USTA family as a committee member, and he really championed me to become actively involved in the tennis industry. He mentored me to the point where I was able to seamlessly be a part of the USTA at various levels.”
Through that involvement in multiple departments of the USTA, Evans became exposed to national team coaching where he would become part of the team traveling with the country’s top juniors to national and international events. He became enthralled with coaching and working to improve players both on and off the court. Whereas he was once unsure of what he wanted to do with this life, Evans found his calling.
“The number one thing that I love about coaching is using tennis as a vehicle for connecting with people,” he says. “Tennis is such a microcosm of life, and being able to utilize the skills that we develop as kids growing up, as well as learn new skills and pick up new experiences makes what we do larger than just the sport of tennis alone to me.”
Evans is one of eight people in the U.S. to hold advanced tennis industry certifications as Certified Racquet Sports Executive and University of Florida DORS graduate. Additional certifications include a Racquet Sports Professional Association (RSPA) Elite Professional, Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) Professional and the International Pickleball Teaching Professional Association (IPTPA). He served four terms (eight years) as a board member of USTA Northern California, and more than a decade as a board member of RSPA Northern California, among other accolades and distinctions.
Evans worked in the industry for 20 years when in 2022 a new opportunity emerged. The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center was seeking a new Director of Operations, and Evans was looking forward to a new professional challenge and a fresh experience.
“The opportunity to be a part of the intersection of grassroots tennis and high-performance tennis at a career-defining facility drove me here,” Evans said. “The USTA is the reason we play tennis as juniors growing up here in America, and the U.S. Open is the goal of everyone who picks up a racquet. The tournament funds grassroots tennis in all 17 sections. I know a lot of people will say that is a corporate answer from someone who has been involved with the USTA for more than two decades. And while that’s true, I grew up in grassroots programs, mainly the Elmhurst Tennis Center in Oakland, and so I have seen just how far that money can go. It has had a tremendous impact on my life. And so to now work at the epicenter of tennis is a phenomenal opportunity. I don’t take that responsibility lightly, and it’s our priority here to maintain the excellence of our players and programming we have here, while also keeping our eyes open to innovations on the horizon that keep us at the forefront of the game.”
For the last three years, Evans and his team at the National Tennis Center have done just that, continuing the excellent work as both a high-performance haven for top players, but also a community center for tennis lovers throughout Queens and all of New York City.
For those efforts, Evans was awarded the RSPA Eastern Tennis Professional of the Year earlier this year, an award he is quick to credit his staff for.
“This award is very much a National Tennis Center staff award, in my opinion,” he says. “Our team has set the standard in terms of programming in the New York area, and set the standard in terms of educational and professional development. From Justyna Wereska and Leo Correa embracing continuing education to our team completing over 460 hours of tennis industry education in 2025, our commitment to set the standard is unparalleled, which translates into our NTC tennis players. Our Red Ball Specialist, Nouri El-Hajjar, was awarded the RSI Junior Champion of the Year last year, so it is a total team effort here, and we are excited to continue providing that level of service to the Queens and New York tennis communities.”
Evans continued:
“The knowledge base that our pro staff, and the continuous learning they do. Our staff always remain students of the game to make sure they are as versatile in terms of tennis delivery as you can have. We have a team capable of representing and delivering at all levels and all ages. We have a team that represents the face of New York.”
Evans has been involved in the industry for nearly three decades, and has brought that dedication, passion and expertise to the National Tennis Center. He remains grounded thanks to his wife, Tatiana, and their four children, who joined him as he made the transition from the west coast to the east coast. He is a competitive guy through and through, and that competition which once manifested itself on the court during his playing days, now extends to his work as a coach and a director.
With Evans at the helm, the home of the U.S. Open and one of the core facilities in New York City remains in good hands, as he and his team aim to continue delivering the most elite tennis instruction, coaching and services they can.
