Leighton Tennis Stadium

The fall of 1997 will see a major step forward for the tennis program at Wake Forest with the opening of a new Indoor Tennis Center.

The complex, which will feature eight courts and accommodate more than 300 spectators, is located adjacent to Groves Stadium, the home of Demon Deacon football less than a mile from the main campus.

The state-of-the-art structure totals 68,800 square feet and will include locker rooms for both the WFU men's and women's squads as well as a training room and offices for coaches and administrative support personnel.

"The addition of this new facility is another step for our program and should certainly help us remain among the top ten in the country," coach Lew Gerrard says. "Obviously we will have greater flexiblity with our practice scheduling which should benefit our current players, and we will be able to attract other outstanding players to our program as they see the commitment that is being made here."

Of course, the school already has one of the country's finest outdoor facilities in Leighton Tennis Stadium, located on the WFU campus. Named for former Deacon coach Jim Leighton, a member of the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Hall of Fame, the facility has served as host of all Wake Forest home matches and numerous top-flight regional events since its opening in 1989.

The new Indoor Tennis Center (artist's rendering below) and Leighton Tennis Stadium provide Wake Forest with some of the nation's top facilities. Leighton Stadium plays host to the professional Flow Motors Invitational every summer (as shown above), an event that has included players such as Andre Agassi and Michael Chang.

Vision and energy might be called the two guiding lights of Wake Forest University from its founding in 1834 to a 1995 Board of Trustees approval of a bold new plan to enhance undergraduate education at the University.

The "Plan for the Class of 2000" will keep enrollment and class sizes small while increasing the size of the faculty and the number of classes, scholarships, and work opportunities for students. It also includes a required seminar course for all first-year students and a host of other academic and faculty support programs.

And in perhaps its most innovative provision, every first-year student at Wake Forest now is issued a notebook computer.

The plan is but one recent example of Wake Forest's characteristic energy and vision.

Recently, the University concluded its $150-million "Heritage and Promise" capital campaign more than $20 million over its goal. The campaign underwrote an extensive campus building program, increased faculty salaries, and raised more than $40 million for endowed student support.

Among its other recent hallmarks of distinction, Wake Forest is ranked among the Top 50 universities nationwide by U.S. News & World Report. The University has sent five students to study in Oxford as Rhodes Scholars in recent years, and has been listed as one of America's best colleges by the Barron's and Peterson's guides. Wake Forest's outstanding quality and reputation were manifested in 1996 with record numbers of applications for admission.