Tennis leaders Anthony Perkins and Rod Zerni earn Hall of Fame honors

The USTA Heart of America awards ceremony took place last month, with several well-deserved accolades handed out to individuals and organizations making a positive impact on the tennis community.

During the ceremony at Grand Street Cafe, Anthony Perkins and Rod Zerni were inducted into the USTA Heart of America Hall of Fame. Perkins—director of racquet sports at Hallbrook Country Club—and Zerni—tennis director at Genesis Health Clubs in Kansas City—became the newest members of the hall of fame on Nov. 5.

Learn more about the Class of 2025 inductees below.

Anthony Perkins

Originally from Great Britain, Perkins came to the U.S. in 2000 on a tennis scholarship to Drake University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration. During his college career, he was voted to the Missouri Valley All-Conference team all four years, was named Freshman of the Year and was part of a conference championship team in 2003.

That same year, Perkins ranked in the top 25 of the ITA, reaching a career-high ITF Masters Tour world ranking of No. 2 in singles and No. 7 in doubles. He has several ITF World Masters Tour titles (13 in singles, 5 in doubles) and five British Masters national titles.

He was a North American Continental champion in 40+ singles and doubles, and he has an incredible 27 USTA age-group national championship balls (14 gold, 10 silver, 3 bronze).

Perkins transitioned to club leadership after college where he served as director of junior tennis, first for Aspen Athletic Club in Des Moines, Iowa, from 2005-09, then at Midtown Athletic Club in Overland Park, Kan., from 2009-13.

Perkins was then named director of adult tennis at Midtown, a title he held until 2015. He was named director of tennis at Northland Racquet Club in 2015 then at Overland Park Racquet Club in 2016. In 2022, Perkins was named director of racquet sports at Hallbrook Country Club in Leawood, Kan.

Perkins has been involved in several different capacities over the years. He was on the Junior Competition Committee for USTA Iowa and served as the committee’s chair. For USTA Heart of America, Perkins has been on the Junior Competition Committee and was vice president of junior programming. He has served on the USTA Missouri Valley Junior Competition Committee.

Perkins has received several USTA Heart of America awards, including 10 & Under Provider of the Year, Event of the Year, High-Performance Coach of the Year, the Above and Beyond Award, and the Distinguished Service Award. He has been the Adult Player of the Year four times.