Before I picked up a tennis racquet, I picked up tennis balls for Wilbur Folsom, the pro at Morley Field. He paid me 25¢.
Balboa Tennis Club at Morley Field, San Diego, California
Roy Barth | About Roy Barth
Playing at Morley Field, 11 years-old.
Roy Barth grew up in San Diego, California, where he honed his tennis skills on the public courts at Morley Field in Balboa Park. At age 13, he became one of the top junior tennis players in Southern California and went on to win three national junior tennis titles. At UCLA, Barth was a two-time All-American and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in economics. From 1969 through 1975, Barth played on the professional tennis tour where he was ranked as high as #8 in men’s singles and #2 in men’s doubles in the United States, and Top-40 in the world. He played Wimbledon four times, the U.S. Open eight times, and the French and Australian Open tournaments each once. Barth also competed on the World Championship Tennis (WCT) tour from 1971 to 1973 and played World Team Tennis for the Indiana Loves team in Indianapolis in 1975.
Barth retired from the professional tennis tour in 1975 and settled in Charleston, South Carolina, where he became the resident tennis professional at the Kiawah Island Golf and Tennis Resort. In 42 years under Barth’s direction, Kiawah’s tennis program was ranked the #1 Tennis Resort in the World 12 out of 14 years by TennisResortsOnline.com. In 2006, in recognition of Barth’s 30th year at Kiawah, Kiawah’s East Beach Tennis Center was renamed the Roy Barth Tennis Center. Barth retired as the Director of Tennis in 2018 and became Director of Tennis, Emeritus.
Barth was inducted into the Hoover High School Sports Hall of Fame, San Diego Tennis Hall of Fame, South Carolina Tennis Hall of Fame, Southern Tennis Hall of Fame, the Intercollegiate Tennis Hall of Fame, and the Professional Tennis Registry Hall of Fame. As a volunteer, Roy served as President of the South Carolina district of the United States Tennis Association (USTA-South Carolina), President of the Professional Tennis Registry (PTR), and Chairman of the USTA Davis Cup Committee. Barth has written the Tips for Better Tennis instructional manual and produced the Tips for Better Tennis DVD. In his upcoming book, Point of Impact, Barth shares lessons, stories, and insights from his lifetime of professional tennis.
