Madison Keys Court of Dreams Celebration of Tennis
The ‘Madison Keys Court of Dreams Celebration of Tennis’ took place at the All Iowa Lawn Tennis Club on July 15th, 2022. A native Iowan, Keys first learned about the Kuhn family court through Wimbledon’s ‘Court of Dreams’ video. She was inspired by Mark and Denise Kuhn’s world-class grass court facility and the All Iowa Lawn Tennis Club’s commitment to spreading mental health awareness after the passing of Alex J. Kuhn by suicide.
The partnership created a platform through tennis to focus on the importance of mental health awareness and feature Madison Keys’ Kindness Wins nonprofit foundation that promotes kindness to youth, kindness to self, and kindness to others in times of struggle.
Speaking about the event Madison said, “I’m so excited. One being able to go home to Iowa, but just to have this whole experience. I felt like I wanted to do something good for the world. It’s obviously raising money for a lot of really great causes. There’s a lot of really great positives coming from this. Just to be a small part of this incredible facility and experience, is just an absolute honor for me."
The two-day event featured Madison Keys discussing mental health with a panel, participating in a kids tennis clinic, and playing exhibition matches at the All Iowa Lawn Tennis Club. The mental health panel stressed the importance of having a support person to share your feelings with, putting your life into perspective by having a positive outlook, and showing random small acts of kindness to others.
The exhibition at the All Iowa Lawn Tennis Club featured singles, doubles and mixed doubles. Tennis featured Grand Slam Champion Madison Keys, U.S Open Doubles Finalist Caty McNally, ATP player Kiranpal Pannu, and 3-time ATP Doubles Champion Nathan Healey. Junior players included Iowa State Doubles Champion Maya Mallavarapu and Pennsylvania State Doubles Champion Emma Perkins.
The event was made possible through the hard work of Event Director Ryan Knarr and his team from Pennsylvania, Alex Gruskin from Cracked Racquets, Chair Umpires Su Oertel and Dr. Brad Schuster, Photographer/Author Rachael Wright, friends Dennis & Jodi Korsta, Brian Parrott, the Kuhn family and many dedicated volunteers.
Nearly 400 people attended the event with proceeds benefiting Kindness Wins and the All Iowa Lawn Tennis Club Foundation.
