Jason Harnett

Jason Harnett took over the position of USTA National Manager - Wheelchair Tennis (now Director), and Head Coach of Team USA in October of 2016. Prior to joining the USTA, Harnett was the Head Tennis Professional for the City of Mission Viejo, CA, from 1996. He is a 1994 graduate of the University of Washington with a B.A. in Political Science. He played four years of collegiate tennis for the Huskies, finishing as Captain and the Men’s Intercollegiate Department Representative his senior year.

Harnett joined the USTA High Performance Wheelchair Staff in 1998 and has coached the US Teams to nine World Championships at the BNP Paribas World Team Cup and 13 Finals. He successfully coached the Quad Team to seven World Team Cup victories. In 2015, he led the Junior Team to their first World Team Cup Championship in 15 years, following up with another title in 2017. He also has three years of coaching experience with the Men’s Team. Harnett was named Assistant Coach at the 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Paralympic Games. He also served as an Assistant Coach at the 2007, 2011 and 2015 Parapan American Games. During both of these Games, starting in 2004, US athletes have won 21 medals, ranging from Gold to Bronze. In 2019, Harnett led as Head Coach at the Parapan American Games in Lima, Peru, where Team USA athletes brought home 7 medals including the Women’s Gold Medal in Doubles, completing the most successful showing of a US Wheelchair Tennis Team in Parapan Am Games history. Having been delayed in 2020, the Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, took place in the summer of 2021 with Harnett leading the Team USA delegation as the Head Coach for the first time.

Additionally, Harnett has trained former and current ITF World #1’s and other ITF Top 50 players: Rick Draney, Dana Mathewson, David Wagner, Jon Rydberg, Stephen Welch, Nick Taylor, Mackenzie Soldan, Conner Stroud, Chris Herman, Brian Hanson, Chris Studwell, Karin Korb, and Dan Lachman.

In March of 2019, Harnett helped guide the senior leadership, within the division of Player and Coach Development at the USTA, to completely absorb the high performance side of Wheelchair Tennis, as its own department within Player Development, for the first time in the history of the program. Following this historic integrative piece, under the direction of Harnett, the USTA, in 2021, has formally and transformatively made the decision to fully-integrate Wheelchair Tennis into all 10 Business Units within the USTA’s infrastructure. The dissolution of the Wheelchair Tennis “Departments”, both in grassroots and High Performance, was the first ever precedent in the strategic inclusion by any National or International Governing Body for any Paralympic sport.

From 2013 - 2016, Harnett served as the Tournament Director for the UNIQLO Wheelchair Doubles Masters (also the NEC Singles Masters in 2013) hosted in Mission Viejo, CA. This was the very first time in the Masters’ history that it was hosted in the United States. Harnett also has served as the co-Camp Director for the USTA/ITF Cruyff Foundation Junior Wheelchair Camp – Americas in Mission Viejo, CA from 2005-2016 and at the Lakeshore Foundation in Birmingham, AL from 2017-2019.

In 2007, he was awarded the “Wheelchair Tennis Champion of the Year” by Tennis Industry Magazine and in 2008, honored as the “ITF Wheelchair Coach of the Year.” Harnett was honored in 2012 as the “USTA/USOC Paralympic Tennis Coach of the Year” and was a Finalist for the “USOC Paralympic Coach of the Year Award” that same year. In 2012, he was honored by his players, David Wagner and Nick Taylor, with the “Order of Ikkos Medal” at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. He is currently on the ITF Wheelchair Coaches Committee, the ITF Strategic Task Force Committee, and the ITF Wheelchair Tennis Player Council (coach representative, 2021-2023).

Harnett is also a USPTA Certified Elite Professional and USTA High Performance Coach. He was chosen as the 2000 and 2007 “Wheelchair Coach of the Year” by the Southern California/USPTA Section. In 2014, he was honored with the “USPTA California Division President Award” and “District 6 - Pro of the Year” and chosen by the Orange County Register(CA) as one of the “Top 100 Most Influential People.”

Jason Harnett currently resides in Orlando, Florida, with his wife Jennifer and three children: Benjamin, Angelina and Broderick...

Let's Connect!

harnett@usta.com