To become an Elite Professional, a USPTA member must be at least 22 years old, pass the written Elite exam, which covers business, programming, sport science and tennis operations, Elite stroke analysis exam and the Elite-level on-court exams. Elite Professionals are required to earn 6 credits every three years to maintain their membership. They commonly are considered for director of tennis or head tennis professional positions.
To become a USPTA Certified Professional:
- Please fill out the application linked below.
- Submit your nonrefundable application fee and prorated dues for the current year. Please note, dues are paid on an annual basis.
- Upon receipt of your application, your application fee, and
prorated dues you will receive an email within 24-48 business hours with
the next steps for your certification along with all links to the
certification requirements.
- All of the following components must be completed before your results will be mailed to you
- Complete Safe Play training and background screening.
Starting in 2019, all applicants must complete Safe Play training and a
background check screening through Net Generation.
- Complete the 7 courses of Coach Youth Tennis online.
- On-court Assessment- Includes teaching a Private Lesson and
Group Lesson and 5 elements of stroke production: Forehand, Backhand,
Volley, Serve, and Miscellaneous.
- Online Education and Exams- PTCA1 course (option to take in person or online), 2 hour written exam, and 20-minute grips exam.
- You will be considered an Applicant Member with certain benefits
until you pass the on-court portion with professional scores and meet
all other certification requirements of the United States Professional
Tennis Association. Please note: We will not send you your on-court test
results until all certification requirements have been met.
- If you fail to pass any portion of the Professional
certification requirements, either on court or online exams, you will be
considered a Recreational Coach until the failed portion is retaken
with a passing score. The application fee covers your first attempt at
all online and on-court testing. There are fees associated with retaking
any portion of the certification requirements, so you will have to
reach out to the Membership Department to reset your access to online
exams and/or get you on the test list to retake any on-court portions of
certification.
Click HERE to begin the application.