Celebrating Women’s History Month: Generations of Tennis Excellence

During Women’s History Month, USTA Florida is highlighting women that showcase what it means to have passion for tennis. This includes families, coaches, players, volunteers, generational stories, and much more.

This article was written by Brooke Davidson, a member of the USTA Florida community.

Stars were Aligned: Florida Family Continues USTA Nationals Legacy with Third Generation of Champs 

A woman with a slicked-back, blonde ponytail stands next to her smiling teammates, a yellow stain in the corner of the photograph that captures this moment not enough to dampen this moment. This was the late Elizabeth Worth, who passed away in January 2011 at the age of 90. “She was a lot of fun and very competitive, had a lot of slicey-dicey shots that would drive people crazy,” her daughter Joan remembered. “She could hang in there with about everybody: she was the best one on the court when I knew her as a younger person.”  

Elizabeth Worth had been the oldest member on her all-ladies adult team from Wilmington, Delaware. Born in 1920, Worth gained many of her skills from her time spent on the court in her Delaware backyard. She was almost 63 years old when she went to USTA Nationals in 1983, playing for the middle states’ adult region. Worth had only played one match for her team, but Joan still made the six-hour drive to go watch her in Seabrook Island, South Carolina. With her USTA Nationals win in 1983, Elizabeth Worth was the first in her family to achieve such a title—but certainly not the last. 

Elizabeth’s Team back when she won a National Championship.

Watching so many of her mother’s tennis matches as a child inspired Joan to pick up the sport. Back in Wilmington, all she needed was a couple pieces of plywood to form a back wall while Worth played on the nearby court. Joan had her first formal lessons at age eight, which led to her playing in high school and later competing in collegiate tennis at Baldwin-Wallace University. A tennis court was built in Joan’s, and her husband, Owen’s backyard in 1976, where Joan taught the sport to kids in the neighborhood on this donated piece of land in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. 

After competing in two previous national championships in 1985 and 1996, Joan was able to continue the USTA legacy her mother started in 2000, playing in Palm Springs, California for the 50 and Over league. Joan was able to play all six matches and lost only one in a third set tiebreaker. Her team was able to secure the fourth win they needed to claim the USTA 4.5 50 and Over National Championship. “It was very fun with great competition! Luckily, the stars were aligned—they really had to be,” she said. 

Joan was also a National Champion.

Also growing up hitting on the back wall like his mother and grandmother before him, Joan’s son Tom Davidson caught his family’s tennis bug early on. “I probably started hitting balls when I was five, played in some local mini tournaments when I was six or seven,” he said. “I had a great teacher!” The Davidson’s enjoyed playing tennis as a family. Tom and his sister, Debbie, went on to play for their high school teams and in intramural leagues at Florida State University. 

In October of 2022, Tom finally got his chance to play at Nationals in Oklahoma City, over two decades after his team last qualified for the 40 and Over National Championships. “I was injured, and it was a struggle for me to get around the court, so I was surprised that they even put me in the match,” Tom said. “I wanted to compete as best as I could and ended up pulling out the one match I played, winning a third set tiebreaker, which helped propel my team to the next round of the tournament and eventually win it.” He now acknowledges winning Nationals as “one of the highlights of my life”. 

Tom also won a National title and was the third generation in the family to do so.

“Pressure’s on for the next generation!” Tom said. His son, Luke Davidson, played on the varsity tennis team in high school down in Miami. Now as a college student at the University of Florida, the only racquet he’s picking up is for the occasional intramural pickleball match. Just as the generations preceding him have perfected their game as they’ve grown older, perhaps Luke will do the same and become the fourth generation in the Davidson family to be crowned a USTA national champion. It’s in his blood, after all.