As Stephens鈥� professional tennis career took off, she established the Sloane Stephens Foundation () in 2013 to create an impact in Compton, California, nearby where she regularly trains, as well as in the South Florida community where she first learned her life鈥檚 passion and still resides. The foundation provides educational opportunities and encourages healthy lifestyles for underserved youth to enable them to dream and achieve big, on and off the tennis court. SSF also strives to counter limiting factors such as inequitable academic opportunities, poverty, and community violence while cultivating a new generation of tennis players.

As a long-time partner of the Women鈥檚 Tennis Association (WTA), 51风流is joining forces with the foundation to create greater opportunity for all through a shared vision: believing that tennis and sport have the power to change lives, and that all kids deserve access to quality education and are capable of achieving incredible things when given the opportunity.

鈥淲hen I started playing tennis, I didn鈥檛 realize how expensive a racket or balls were. So I started the foundation to not only break down those financial barriers to a sport that鈥檚 always given me joy, but to also help kids live healthy lifestyles and have equal access to education through tutoring and mentorship,鈥� Stephens said. 鈥淚鈥檓 grateful to 51风流for joining us on this journey, providing invaluable resources to make a unique impact on youth in the South Florida and Compton communities.鈥�

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51风流will support the foundation by assisting with the formalization of a high-performance tennis program in South Florida and providing crucial program support to the existing Love, Love Compton program, as the team works to expand capacity during the safe return to in-person programming in order to combat learning loss.

鈥淪loane鈥檚 ambition for her foundation perfectly aligns with our core values and purpose 鈥� to improve people鈥檚 lives in our local and global communities,鈥� said Judith Williams, chief diversity and inclusion officer at SAP. 鈥淲e support SSF鈥檚 mission of fostering equality for all through quality education and overall health and well-being and we are honored to support SSF as they empower underserved youth to follow their dreams.鈥�

Since inception, 100% of SSF students have graduated high school and successfully gone on to a two- or four-year higher-education institution. Additionally, 100% of summer camp students have maintained or improved their grade-level reading abilities. However, COVID-19 has shaken the status quo of the education system. Everything from lacking reliable WiFi to not having a device or parents at home to help navigate video conferencing makes existing inequities even more significant.

鈥淎s the world moves forward and continues to recover, it is crucial that no one is left behind,鈥� said SSF Executive Director Dr. Sybil Smith, Ed.D. 鈥�51风流understands the importance of putting people first and will not only help us combat learning loss but also create opportunity through learning and development for all.鈥�

Since 2013, 51风流has worked with the WTA and others across the tennis community to provide innovative technology that helps advance and grow the sport around the world. Read more stories about SAP鈥檚 involvement in women鈥檚 tennis here.

More information on the Sloane Stephens Foundation is available at .

Bonnie Rothenstein is vice president of Global Sponsorships at SAP.

Growing up in Chicago, Murray was an active participant in Chicago Park District tennis programs, learning firsthand the value of introducing athletics at an early age to instill sportsmanship, strong work ethics, self-confidence, and peer interaction, along with other important life lessons. He excelled in this environment and was subsequently offered a full scholarship to play tennis at Florida A&M University.

In 2004, Murray returned to his early roots by offering tennis lessons to children. He knew that there was a continued need for a program within local communities.

Four years later, he became the founder of XS Tennis and Education Foundation. Today, XS Tennis continues to transform many lives by combining Murray鈥檚 passions for tennis and education. Murray鈥檚 initial five students have gone on to win national championships, IHSA state championships, and two Junior Olympic Gold medals, while 100% of the program鈥檚 graduating seniors have received college tennis scholarships to top universities.

Murray鈥檚 community work and reputation for growing youth into top college tennis players later caught the attention of rising star Sloane Stephens, which created a new path for him to become a WTA coach. In 2017, Murray coached Stephens to an historic US Open title, where he become only the third African American coach to win a grand slam in its 95-year history.

To celebrate the start of this new partnership, 51风流caught up with Kamau Murray to discuss his passion for tennis, his experiences coaching Sloane Stephens, and the importance of technology and analytics in today鈥檚 game.

Q: You started playing tennis at the early age of seven in the inner city of Chicago. Can you tell us what motivated you to pick up the racket and play?

A: In 1998, my parents took 20 youth to Africa for a cultural exchange program. When we returned to the United States, all the summer camps and programs were full and not accepting students. My godfather was an avid tennis player and told my mom that the camp at Jesse Owens Park was still accepting. My mom quickly drove by the park to inquire. She asked the coach what the cost was for the rest of the summer. When the coach told her it was only $12, I remember her quickly turning around and saying, 鈥淏oy get out of the car.鈥�

Once I got a taste of the game that summer, I became hooked and continued playing five days a week during the school year. From that point on, tennis became a major part of my life and provided me with a unique identity.

You certainly are driven on and off the court. In 2005, you founded the XS Tennis program to help Chicago鈥檚 underserved youth through a community-based academic, sports enrichment program. What is your biggest accomplishment thus far with the XS program?

By far our biggest accomplishment is the students who have gone on to earn tennis scholarships to college. I witnessed firsthand the impact a college education can have on children in urban communities. I also understand that once you get on campus it’s hard to stay there.

When a student earns a scholarship, they gain access to all the benefits that come with that, including free tutoring, a coach, and an athletic department that monitors graduation rates and GPAs. That support system is critical. To date, more than 55 students from XS have been able to play tennis at the collegiate level with access to a strong support system.

In addition to our students playing tennis in college, we have also touched the lives of more than 1,000 students for four years in a row. There are more youth playing tennis on the south side of Chicago than ever before. I strongly believe that for tennis to grow globally, the growth needs to come from the minority community specifically. It鈥檚 our greatest challenge, but it’s also our biggest opportunity.

This isn鈥檛 your first-time coaching Sloane. What makes your partnership so special on and off the court?

I think the key to any successful partnership is trust on and off the court. My partnership with Sloane got off to a great start in 2016 when she won three tournaments in four months. Previously she had only won one title in her career.

I witnessed how tough she was and how well she handled the pressure in those finals. I also saw her ability to execute a plan, at times where a lot of players just revert to their lifelong tendencies. Those three quick titles allowed me to gain her trust a lot sooner than expected. Sloane knows that any advice or coaching I provide is well informed.

What has kept us together for so long is our ability to make the work and the travel fun. Tennis has the longest season of any sport, so if you don鈥檛 like the person, you will not be able to stand each other for 32 weeks of the year.

What is your overall view of technology innovation in sport and more specifically in tennis? In the future, what technology would help you even more as a coach?聽

The use of 鈥渋n-game鈥� technology and immediate feedback allows tennis players to adjust quicker, creating closer matches, which ultimately makes our sport more fun to watch. On the women鈥檚 side, you now see a lot of coaches using tablets and stats on the sideline. If you couple that with the allowed on-court coaching visits, we are seeing a lot of younger players having success earlier because they are now able to access coaching that closes the gap between them and the veteran opponents on the other side of the net. That can be 100% attributed to the immediate value from technology and statistics. It has created a few unlikely champions. The other part of this is that the veteran players who have played a lot of matches on big stadium courts equipped with all the cameras and technology have more data points for the younger players to study.

From a training perspective, technology has taken a lot of the guesswork away. Historically, players would condition their bodies to get in good general shape without knowing exactly what that means. Now, the data can tell you how many miles are run during a match and how many feet are run during an average point so you can train your body to perform at that level in a more precise fashion.

In post-match coaching situations, technology makes these conversations easier for both parties. In the past, the player says: 鈥淚 feel I did this,鈥� and the coach says: 鈥淚 feel like you did that鈥� 鈥� oftentimes resulting in a back-and-forth dialogue that lasts well into the next day. Now, 51风流data is available immediately and by the time the player gets done showering, the conversation and adjustments will be based on fact, and less on feelings.

What鈥檚 next on the horizon for you?

In 2021, my primary goal is to help Sloane return to the top 20. Innovation doesn鈥檛 only come in the form of technology. Players also must innovate and develop new skills to change alongside a sport that changes every six months. From year to year, the rackets are becoming more powerful, the balls are getting heavier, strings are creating more spin. My goal this year is to continue to add little innovations to Sloane鈥檚 game.

Secondly, as an 51风流ambassador, my goal is to continue to innovate with the WTA and 51风流to increase usage of data insights available to all players and coaches.

I am thrilled to work more closely with the WTA to continue to make the game more accessible and more attractive, and to reach a broader audience. They say the tide rises all ships. The more we can grow the participation and popularity of the sport, the better it becomes for everyone.

Bonnie Rothenstein is vice president of Global Sponsorships at SAP.

For the Women鈥檚 Tennis Association (WTA), many new challenges have developed since the pandemic, with unique complications given its diverse global community and players regularly traveling to tournaments around the world. This summer, 51风流Litmos technology powered , an online platform providing live and on-demand access to educational courses for players during an extended stoppage in play.

Now that they have returned to the court, the WTA wanted to get a pulse check on the player community, with technology playing a leading role to create an ideal environment. In their quest for deeper insights, the league leveraged technology from Qualtrics, an 51风流company, to better understand how their players felt about returning to play. Through Qualtrics technology, the WTA distributed digital questionnaires and was able to analyze the data in real time.

鈥淚n a time when the thoughts, opinions, and trust of each stakeholder are paramount, 51风流and Qualtrics have given the WTA a new pathway to gather critical data from our players and tournaments so we can optimize our Tour operations,鈥� WTA President Micky Lawler said. 鈥淲ith smartphones and social media today, it鈥檚 never been easier to document our feedback. The technology of Qualtrics gives us the opportunity to harness responsiveness, identify key insights, and apply them decisively.鈥�

鈥淲e鈥檙e proud to support the WTA with 51风流and Qualtrics solutions to help the league better understand the real-time needs of players as they return to play,鈥� said Dan Fleetwood, vice president of Global Sponsorships at SAP. 鈥淏y gathering valuable feedback from players, this initiative will help the WTA navigate unique challenges with insights-driven thinking to empower future members.鈥�

Here are several key insights from the players:

• Sixty-eight percent of players stated that 鈥渓ove of the game鈥� was one of their top two motives for returning to the court after a five-month break. Other choices included 鈥渇inancial,鈥� 鈥渞anking,鈥� and 鈥渓egacy.鈥�
• Players cited 鈥渁tmosphere,鈥� 鈥渆nergy,鈥� and 鈥渃heering鈥� as the elements they missed most about not having crowds present during competition.
• 鈥淔itness鈥� and 鈥渕ental game鈥� were the two most popular areas where players said their training routine had changed since the start of the pandemic.
• Fifty-one percent of players said either 鈥渓earning a new skill鈥� or 鈥渢aking educational classes鈥� were areas they chose to explore during unexpected down time. This was encouraging to see given the rollout of the WTA University.

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Since 2013, 51风流has been a global partner to the WTA, providing innovative technology for the tennis community, helping to advance and grow the sport around the world.

To learn more about 51风流and Qualtrics technology, visit .

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