On Sunday, Ethan Quinn and Fiona Crawley were named Champions of the 2024 Universal Tennis Foundation Hurd Awards. The recipients were announced on Tennis Channel and during a ceremony held at the Village Stage during the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif.
Continuing in the tradition started by Mark Hurd and Oracle, the Universal Tennis Foundation Hurd Awards are player grants made possible by a gift from the Hurd family. Grants of $100,00 each are awarded annually to assist a young American male and female player transitioning from college to professional competition.
Competing for the University of Georgia, Quinn won the 2023 NCAA singles tournament as a redshirt freshman. Quinn has played on the UTR Pro Tennis Tour, competing in Newport Beach back in 2021. He won his first ITF title in June last year and reached the final of an ATP Challenger last month. This week, he won two qualifying matches at the BNP Paribas Open to reach the main draw. The 19-year-old, who turned pro last summer, is currently ranked No. 291 on the ATP Tour.
"[The Hurd Award] will finance me to travel to tournaments like this one, be able to have world-class coaches, and be able to train every single day in world-class environments," Quinn said in Indian Wells. "So that some day I can be playing this type of tournament every single year and every single week."
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Crawley is a senior at the University of North Carolina and led the Tar Heels to the 2023 NCAA team championship before winning the NCAA doubles trophy (with Carson Tanguilig). Balancing her college career with starting a pro career, the 22-year-old has already won two ITF titles. As a wild card entry at the 2023 US Open, she qualified for the main draw. She’s currently ranked No. 382 on the WTA Tour.
"This grant is really just going to change my life," Crawley said in Indian Wells. "Tennis is an expensive sport, and there's a lot more that goes into it than just playing the sport and being on court, which is my favorite part of all of it... I played a few professional tournaments and just how expensive it is getting to the site and the planes and the hotels and the Ubers and the food and everything. It is so expensive."
Past Hurd Award recipients include Peyton Stearns and Andrew Fenty (2023), Danielle Collins and Mackenzie McDonald (2017), Christopher Eubanks and Francesca di Lorenzo (2018), J.C. Aragone and Jamie Loeb (2019), and JJ Wolf and Sophie Whittle (2020).
Stearns’ career has really taken off since her own appearance on the Village Stage to accept her 2023 Hurd Award. Last year, the former Texas Longhorn was a finalist at the WTA 250 in Bogota, reached the third round of Roland Garros and fourth round of the US Open, and finished the season inside of the Top 50. The 22-year-old has benefitted greatly from having a team on the road with her.
"My first thought was I can do something, I can get a physio,” Stearns said last year in Indian Wells. “I can get a team around me which is huge and get a team that cares for what I'm doing on court and off."
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In addition to naming Quinn and Crawley the Hurd Award Champions, the Universal Tennis Foundation has partnered with the Youth Performance Institute (YPI) this year. Thanks to YPI board members Gordon Uehling (also a Hurd Awards Selection Committee member) and Dr. Jim Loehr (a world-renowned sports psychologist), the Hurd Awards have expanded their impact.
Hurd Award Finalists Cannon Kingsley (Ohio State) and Chloe Beck (Duke) will each receive grants of $40,000 to support their professional tennis aspirations.
“We are excited to announce the very deserving 2024 Hurd Award recipients,” said Darcy Leschly, President of the Universal Tennis Foundation. “The Hurd Awards embody what we are as a foundation, supporting the growth of tennis players both on court and off. We thank Paula Hurd for her unwavering support and are thrilled at the expansion of the Hurd Awards with our generous new partners Gordon Uehling and Dr. Jim Loehr from the Youth Performance Institute.”
The Universal Tennis Foundation has also announced the 2024 Hurd Award Select Pro Team of additional deserving elite collegiate players who, along with the Champions and Finalists, will be invited to attend a Youth Performance Institute conference this summer where Dr. Loehr will speak and offer mentorship.
The 2024 Hurd Award Select Pro Team includes Lea Ma (Georgia), Kari Miller (Michigan), Ayana Akli (South Carolina), Micah Braswell (Texas), Andres Martin (Georgia Tech), and Garrett Johns (Duke).
Applicants and recipients of the Hurd Awards were evaluated and selected by the Universal Tennis Hurd Awards Selection Committee which includes Paula Hurd, Tracy Austin, Lindsay Davenport, Mary Joe Fernandez, Todd Martin, Peggy Michel, Gordon Uehling, Mark Leschly and Chase Hodges.