Master of Architecture students Ann Teng Chua, Teng Long "Tommy" Lee, Liam Niland and Kotaro Shiraishi have been named finalists in “Future Courts,” a student design competition organized by the USTA, the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the US.
The dimensions of a tennis court have remained unchanged for generations, since the court provides the same familiar foundation for play. But the environment around the court is a different story. Florida’s extreme heat, heavy rainfall, and hurricanes create challenges that don’t exist in the same way in Maine, where long winters and changing seasons shape how people use outdoor spaces. In dense cities like New York, simply finding space for recreation can be the challenge. Along post-industrial waterfronts, aging infrastructure and changing water levels raise a completely different set of questions.
So, rather than redesigning the dimensions or playing surface of the tennis court itself, “Future Courts” asked students to consider the larger environment around it, including landscape, infrastructure, sustainability, accessibility, and community use.
The Weitzman team’s proposal, The Rainwoven Court, imagines a tennis environment in Houston designed around the city’s heat, humidity and heavy rainfall. Rain chains, permeable surfaces and water collection systems are integrated throughout the site, while pathways connect the courts with the surrounding park and landscape.
The Weitzman team is one of three shortlisted by the USTA. More than 1,500 miles away from the site of the Weitzman’s site proposal, in Houston, Court-Line Underpass, designed by graduate architecture students at Harvard, envisions a covered tennis facility underneath the Manhattan Bridge. In East Boston, Flying Cloud Tennis Center, designed by students from Harvard and Princeton, reimagines a historic shipbuilding pier as a year-round tennis destination.
“We wanted to see what could happen when emerging designers were given the freedom to question familiar assumptions and approach the challenge from a completely different perspective,” says Christian Gabriel, managing director, National Infrastructure Strategy, USTA.
A not-for-profit organization, the USTA owns and operates the US Open, along with approximately 100 Pro Circuit events throughout the US. The winning Future Courts concept will be announced during the 2026 US Open on August 31.
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