For our sixth annual Heroes Issue, we’ve selected passages from the last 50 years of Tennis Magazine and TENNIS.com—starting in 1969 and ending in 2018—to highlight 50 worthy heroes. Each passage acknowledges the person as they were then; each subsequent story catches up with the person, or highlights their impact, as they are now. It is best summed up with a quote from the great Arthur Ashe, that was featured on the cover of the November/December issue of this magazine in 2015: “True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.”
“I’m dealing with myself more,” adds Garrison. “I’ve improved a lot, but I still have a way to go.” - David Higdon / March 1989
When rains from Hurricane Harvey ravaged Houston, TX, in September 2017, Zina Garrison lost nearly everything. Her home completely flooded, she stayed with family until the water receded.
Instead of mourning her material losses, the 54-year-old Houston native focused on aiding recovery in her devastated hometown, setting up tennis nets at shelters for children displaced by the storm.
“I was amazed at how excited they were to play,” Garrison says. “Tennis let them be kids in a traumatic situation.”
Garrison fondly refers to Houston as “the city of giving,” and she’s experienced it firsthand. She got her start in tennis through free programs offered by coach John Wilkerson at a local park. She would go on to reach the 1990 Wimbledon singles final, win three Grand Slam mixed doubles titles, a doubles gold medal and a singles bronze.
Her own success a product of Wilkerson’s dedication and generosity, Garrison wanted to pay it forward. In 1993, she joined Wilkerson in launching what is now called the Zina Garrison Academy at the very same park where she first swung a racquet. Since then, over 45,000 children have been touched by Garrison’s tennis and education programs—and none of them have paid a dime.
“Kids are what make me happy,” she says. “I love to see the smiles on their faces and hear what they are dreaming about.”
Garrison has stayed involved in tennis since her retirement in 1997. In 2001, she became the first black woman to serve on the USTA Board of Directors. She also served as Fed Cup captain and led the women’s U.S. Olympic team in Beijing. She most recently teamed up with Kamau Murray to help coach WTA player Taylor Townsend.
“Kamau says he’s going to keep me out there [on tour] somehow,” Garrison says of her good friend, who has gone on to coach Sloane Stephens. “He tells me I can’t let all that wisdom go to waste!”
Pending a return to coaching, Garrison spends time raising funds for the academy, a job that became even more difficult after Harvey destroyed the program’s facilities. But thanks to local support, children are back playing, and a donated trailer houses a new education space and computer lab. Garrison, too, has found a new home: a 22nd-floor apartment with a great view of “the giving city.”—