Longboat Key Club's longtime Director of Tennis to retire

Longboat Key Club tennis devotees will soon bid goodbye to their  only Director of Tennis, John Woods. 

Now 72, Woods came to the Longboat Key Club in 1978 when its tennis ventures were just starting. He moved to the area for a job at the Country Club of Sarasota, but was soon whisked away to the lure of Longboat Key, a tennis giant in its infancy. The Tennis Gardens courted him over a series of phone calls and lunch at Columbia Restaurant.

“I just took one look and said, ‘OK, I think I can make this happen,’” Woods said of his introduction to the Key.

When Woods started, there were six courts at Islandside. It later grew to 18 there before sprawling out to Harbourside for a total of 36 courts during the heyday of tennis, he said. During the season, all the courts would be full in the mornings. 

“Tennis was just booming,” Woods said. “The tennis players were like rock stars back in those days.”

Woods came to the club on the recommendations of tennis legends Rod Laver and Roy Emerson, with whom he’d done traveling tennis clinics. He still keeps in contact with them today. Actually, when Woods was in the process of getting the Director of Tennis job, he used them as references. However, club owner John Siegel (a golf guy, Woods said) wasn’t sure if the word of those guys would be enough. 

“[I gave] Rod Laver and Roy Emerson, thinking that’s all I needed,” Woods recalled. “I got called over to (Siegel’s) office to continue our talks … He said, ‘By the way, can you give us some more references?’ And I was just kind of looked at him I said, “Do you know who Rod Laver and Roy Emerson are?’”

Siegel didn’t, so Woods put it in terms he could understand.

“I said, ‘Think Arnold Palmer or Jack Nicklaus,’ and he looked at me and he’s like, ‘Really?’” Woods recalled.

Thus began Woods’ tenure. But before that, he played tennis for Texas Tech University and got his start at the Houston Racket Club after graduation and time in the Army. 

“There was a period of time where there really wasn't much you could do in tennis unless you were like a really great tennis player,” Woods said. “Tennis wasn't big like it is today.”

Those days are long gone. Woods has made a career of over 40 years at the Tennis Gardens, growing the club through multiple ownerships. When the current owners came on, they decided to close the previous iterations of the club and open today’s Tennis Gardens. The layout is Woods’ dream as a director, with the courts encircling the pro shop and the native plants reflecting the beauty of Sarasota and the Key.

“I haven't been to a nicer club than this,” Woods said as he looked out over the courts

The setup is really Woods’ brainchild. As a long-standing member of the organization, he’s thankful that the various owners have always trusted him to do what he needs to do for tennis at the club.

“I don't think all directors have been that fortunate to be able to just be carte blanche on what they can do,” Woods said. 

Through it all, he counts all the events as his favorite memories and the people who populated them as what he’ll miss most. When it started, the Tennis Gardens was not a membership club, but it was important to Woods to grow a community on an island that was up-and-coming in the tennis world. Those membership events and the pros he’s worked with over the years have made the tennis community a sort of home where everyone’s always ready to pick up a racquet and hit the courts. 

“When things get slow, we (the pros) can all go out and start hitting and doing things like that,” Woods said. “And all of the events, those are the most fun.” 

There have also been the numerous tournaments over the years, including the Sarasota Open. For several years, this brought high-ranking tennis players including Nick Kyrgios. Woods remembered the first time he saw Serena Williams practicing years ago. He heard a steady “whomp” and saw the tennis legend steadily smacking balls with immense strength. 

Woods, who lives on Siesta Key, will still be involved with the Club’s tennis programs in some way, saying he will probably participate in charity events going forward. He’s looking forward to traveling more and doing different things, he said, including spending more time with his two grandchildren and wife. 

One of his goals is to work with youth tennis, helping underprivileged kids find courts and their way in the sport. 

“I definitely want to stay in the tennis business,” Woods said. “It's been very good to me. And I want to give back.”

By November, there will be a new Director of Tennis for the first time. Woods plans to stay with the club through the Joey Gratton Boys and Girls Club Benefit Tournament, which will be held Oct. 18-20. On Nov. 12, the Tennis Association will honor Woods and his wife, Beth, at the annual Fall Frolic event, David Gutridge wrote in an email to Tennis Association members. 

“Whoever comes in and replaces me will, without a doubt, walk into the best job of their life,” Woods said.