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That's because areas such as those around Desert View and Flowing Wells high schools - parts of Tucson that don't have a lot of high-income households - are starting to embrace a sport once deemed less important than baseball, track and other spring prep sports.
"The culture of the school now is that tennis is cool," said Flowing Wells boys tennis coach David Towne.
Both the Desert View girls and Flowing Wells boys are expected to fare well in the Class 4A Kino and Sonoran regional tennis tournament, which began this morning at Tucson Racquet and Fitness Club.
At Desert View, girls coach Stacy Haines inherited a program in 1994 that had gone winless the previous year and finished 3-13 in his first season.
Salvation came when then-freshman Claudia Meza joined the team in 1995 because the girl she got a ride home from after school had tried out for tennis.
Meza, who had never played tennis before, has become one of the top players in the city. Her arrival, along with that of then-freshman Tenecia Wilkins, changed the image of tennis at Desert View.
"For once, we had athletes instead of just scholars," Haines said.
Desert View, a team that Haines says consists of players who "never picked up a racquet" before joining, went 13-3 this season and finished second behind Sabino in the Kino standings. However, the Jaguars are now favored to win the region championship after Sabino was placed on probation by the AIA for leaving the court during a match in Douglas and subsequently was banned from postseason competition.
"These girls have taken a sport where no one expects South Siders to do well, and they've become one of the elite teams in the city," Haines said.
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