ABOUT THE BTC

Member owned Berkeley Tennis Club is rich with a tradition in world class tennis. Founded in 1906 it was originally located on 2624 Hillegass Avenue. In 1917, the Club moved to its present site at One Tunnel Road. The initial membership has grown from 40 to over 500, single, married and family.

The BTC has been blessed with many great players in its membership including Don Budge, Helen Wills Moody, Helen Jacobs, William Johnson, Edward Chandler, Bill Crosby, Hugh Ditzler, Julie Heldman, William Hoogs, Frank Kovacs, Don Jacobus, Cliff Mayne, Bill Maze, Jim McManus, Jeff Borowiak, Girls’ 18 National Champion Sasha Podkolzina and Hazel Wightman (of the Wightman Cup). The Club was host to such tournaments as the Pacific Coast Championships, the Redwood Bank Tournament in which greats such as Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Stan Smith and others have participated. Present members include perennial Pacific Coast Seniors Champion Doug Sykes, University of California Head Coach Peter Wright, African American Hall of Fame inductee Wendell Pierce, University of California Hall of Fame inductee Barrie Bulmore, and many other successful collegiate and National Gold, Silver and Bronze Ball winners. Last year Billie Jean King returned to the Club at which she played at so often in her younger years, and crowned the Girls' 18 National Champion. The BTC was proud to give Billie Jean an Honorary Lifetime Membership to the Berkeley Tennis Club at that time.

The Club fields many competitive U.S.T.A. League teams and offers a strong Junior Development Program.

The setting of the Berkeley Tennis Club with a backdrop of the historic Claremont Resort & Spa makes playing tennis a unique experience. The BTC hosts the Pacific Coast Seniors, and has hosted the Girls' 18s National Championships, the Maze Cup as well as such benefit events as the Alta Bates Summit Celebrity Tennis Classic. Besides tennis on 10 courts (nine lit) the Club has a pool and spa, an fitness facility in the upper clubhouse, and a ballroom for dinners, special functions and other fitness activities.

The Berkeley Tennis Club, along with the Berkeley Tennis Club Foundation, is committed to the promotion of tennis for its members as well as the tennis community at large.