Photo credit: Ricky Dimon. Karen Pestaina presents Coach Art Carrington with the coveted 10sBalls.com Coach of the Year Award.
Editor’s Note: we chose Arthur Carrington for this award for a simple reason. He is the “coaches coach “ that remark was from Sven Groeneveld. Louise Pleming was in his magical powerful presence. She was blown away. The story is also about the two Arthur’s. Arthur Carrington and Arthur Ashe were in same climb into global elites when Carrington decided to go home to Elizabeth NJ to be the worlds smartest coach. He can simplify the confusing regarding strokes. Body movement and swinging the racket. Elizabeth NJ just named a park in his name. So Arthur Ashe became the great player and Arthur Carrington became one of the best coaches in the world. Other coaches chimed in. Max Mirnyi’s said he had never seen such clean simply strokes that will provide a lifetime of being able to play. Rick Leach was sorry he missed the ceremony. He had a Forest Hills gig … but he loves Arthur’s teaching methods. The Bruthas had to leave town the day before. They were missed. Sorry Bryce and Issac. Coach Andy Fitzell. Had the remark “ smooth” and said his mentor Vic Braden would have put art on a pedestal. Art sets the bar high. KT Kim and Norman Tam were also sorry to miss the award. Solinco has been sponsoring the Carrington family . KT Kim said we’d like to congratulate and Thank Arthur for his incredible contributions to The sport of tennis. His passion and dedication and commitment have helped open the door to the sport and have helped open the door to multiple generations of players. We are grateful for everything he has done.
Stuart Hutchison said • “Art Carrington has truly become a master of life/tennis coaching over many decades with his unique crafted teaching approach and historic player’s and coach’s perspective. He has helped rekindle my love for the great game of tennis.”
Stuart is one of the greatest tennis tech reps and marketing wiz from back in the day Stuart put Prince on top. He now works in tennis as a consultant.
Rob Stone tennis tournament director (3/5 marathon Usta sanctioned event ) and tennis photographer said he’d be embarrassed to serve in front of ArT. Yes , he has a pre serve wind up …(not smooth) Rob sees alot thru the lense. He simply saw what we did. A tennis GOD ! The team at TennisBalls is so proud to give this award to this Arthur. It was given in front of the Althea Gibson My fave. And the mention of Arthur’s win over Horace Reid was very personal. We knew Horace as a junior. Met him at the first or second Easter bowl. Housed together at Seena Hamilton ( tourney director) we then both ended up in LA. Horace was at UCLA. Art beating a kid half his age in 5 sets. Amazing.
Long live Arthur and his style of coaching.
By Karen Pestaina
There are tennis coaches, and then there are people who spend a lifetime giving something back to the game.
Arthur “Art” Carrington is one of those people.
10sBalls.com is proud to name Art Carrington our Coach of the Year, joining an extraordinary group of previous honorees that includes Gardnar Mulloy, Judy Murray, Sven Groeneveld and Louise Pleming.
Art’s tennis journey has lasted more than six decades—as a player, champion, coach, teacher, author, historian and mentor. And what a journey it has been.
Growing up in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Art discovered tennis at the historic North End Tennis Club. It became much more than a tennis court. It was a gathering place where young players were surrounded by successful Black doctors, lawyers, teachers and other professionals who played tennis, socialized and looked after the next generation.
Art learned tennis there, but he also learned about life.
One of his early mentors was Sydney Llewellyn, who coached the great Althea Gibson. Art has spoken about the lessons Llewellyn taught him—not only about tennis, but about spirituality, family and becoming a man.
Those lessons never left him.
Art became quite a player himself.
He was recruited to Hampton College, now Hampton University, where he became the school’s first student to receive a full athletic scholarship. He became a three-time collegiate champion and later one of the best players in the American Tennis Association.
In 1972, Art played 18-year-old Horace Reid in the ATA Men’s Singles Championship final—the first televised ATA men’s championship match. The incredibly close five-set battle was broadcast on Boston Public Television with legendary broadcaster Bud Collins behind the microphone.
Art lost that one.
But champions have a way of coming back.
In 1973, Arthur Carrington became the ATA Men’s Singles Champion.
Along the way, he was a frequent practice partner of Arthur Ashe and shared courts with some names very familiar to the 10sBalls family: Bjorn Borg, Rod Laver and our beloved Vitas Gerulaitis.
And if you ever had the opportunity to watch Art play, you could immediately see something special about his game.
Those smooth strokes.
Art has always made hitting a tennis ball look almost effortless. There is a rhythm and flow to his strokes that became an important part of the way he would eventually teach the game.
Because tennis is not an easy sport to learn.
In fact, it can be incredibly difficult.
One of Art Carrington’s gifts as a coach is his ability to simplify tennis. Instead of making an already complicated game even more complicated, Art helps players understand movement, rhythm and how the body naturally works.
He has described his philosophy as one of whole-body integration and flowing movement, even incorporating elements of martial arts and music into his teaching. Art believes a good teacher must first be his own best student.
Perhaps that is why those beautiful, smooth strokes look so effortless.
Art coached Vera Zvonareva, who reached No. 2 in the world, and since founding the Carrington Tennis Academy in 1980, he has helped thousands of students learn and improve their games.
But Art has given tennis something else that may prove equally important.
He has helped preserve its history.
His book, Black Tennis: An Archival Collection: 1890–1962, preserves historic newspaper accounts and stories documenting generations of Black tennis players, clubs and communities that are too often missing from traditional tennis history.
Art understood something important: you cannot tell the complete stories of Arthur Ashe and Althea Gibson without telling the stories of the communities that produced them.
When Art discovered tennis as a boy, everyone he saw around the courts was Black. As he recalled years later, he essentially grew up thinking tennis was a Black game. There was nothing telling that young boy that he didn’t belong on a tennis court.
Art later helped co-curate the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s groundbreaking “Breaking the Barriers” exhibition chronicling Black tennis history.
Player. Champion. Coach. Author. Historian. Mentor.
But we think teacher may describe Arthur Carrington best.
Tennis is a difficult game. Great coaches have the rare ability to make it simpler. Great teachers can take something complicated and make it feel natural.
And when you watch Arthur Carrington’s smooth, effortless strokes—or watch him teach someone else how to find that same rhythm—you understand why he has remained a student and teacher of this game for more than half a century.
10sBalls.com proudly honors Arthur Carrington as our Coach of the Year.
Congratulations, Art—and thank you for a lifetime of teaching, mentoring, preserving history and giving back to the game we all love.