Duda honored by USTA for Media Excellence

Doug Duda needs to clear a little more space on his mantle.

The ESPN Tri-Cities host of "The Doug and Daddy Show" was named the United States Tennis Association's (UTSA) 2024 Media Excellence award winner.

Duda was honored for his decades of tennis coverage, a sport rarely receiving much attention beyond the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour.

During the past year, Duda used his vocals to highlight some prominent local tennis stories, including the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) National Tournament, hosted by the University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK).

Over the years, Duda has conducted many interviews with the UNK and Hastings College tennis teams, plus local high school coaches, including Kearney's Troy Saulsbury, a 2019 USTA Nebraska Hall of Fame inductee. Duda annually previews the boys and girls state tennis tournaments with key contributors from the area and highlighted those successful trips at the state tourney.

Joining Duda as an award winner this year were several from Kearney. Saulsbury was recognized as an outstanding contributor to youth tennis programs. Asher Saulsbury was honored as one of two high performance players of the year for junior male competitors. The Kearney Junior Recreation Tournament was also an award winner along with Bellevue for the year's best junior tournament.