How to Fill Out and Submit the USTA Waiver and Release Form

The USTA Waiver and Release Form is a one-page liability release that every player signs before competing in a United States Tennis Association sanctioned event. By signing, you acknowledge the physical risks of tennis, release the USTA and event organizers from negligence claims, and accept financial responsibility for any emergency medical care you receive on site. You can download the PDF from your USTA section’s website, complete a Formstack-hosted online version, or pick up a paper copy at the tournament desk.

Where to Get the Form

USTA sections publish the waiver as a downloadable PDF. The Middle States section, for example, hosts a junior tournament version directly on usta.com, and other sections maintain similar pages for their regions.¹ The USTA also offers a Formstack-hosted online version that lets you complete and sign the waiver digitally before printing or submitting it.² If you arrive at a tournament without a signed copy, most tournament desks keep blank forms on hand, but filling it out in advance saves time at check-in.

Beyond the tournament version, the USTA publishes a general-use Release, Waiver, Assumption of Risk, and Indemnity template that local organizers, community tennis associations, and NJTL chapters can customize for their own programs.³ Each section or facility may adapt the wording, so the exact form you receive could look slightly different from one event to the next. The core provisions stay the same: liability release, assumption of risk, and indemnification.

Who Has to Sign

Any player 18 or older entering a USTA-sanctioned tournament or league must sign the waiver personally. The tournament version states that you must be “at least 18 years of age” and “competent to contract” in your own name.¹ If the player is under 18, a parent or legal guardian must sign on the child’s behalf. The parent section asks for the guardian’s printed name, the child’s printed name, and the guardian’s signature and date.³

USTA League players are covered by waiver language built into the 2025 USTA League Regulations, under which all participants acknowledge the risks of competitive tennis and release the USTA and host facility from claims.⁴ Even so, many league captains still hand out a standalone waiver at the start of each season, particularly for local flight playoffs.

One boundary to flag: the waiver is not a substitute for USTA membership. All players, including non-U.S. citizens, must hold a current USTA membership to enter a sanctioned event unless the requirement is waived for an entry-level tournament.⁵ The signed form sits on top of membership; it does not replace it.

How to Fill It Out

The form itself is short. The PDF has spaces for your printed name, your signature, and the date. If you are signing for a minor, you also print the child’s name and sign in the designated parent or guardian section.¹ There is no long questionnaire. The bulk of the page is the release language itself, not data-entry fields.

Read the release text before signing. The form includes a statement confirming that you have read it and “fully understand the contents, meanings, and impact of this Release and Waiver.”¹ Courts take that acknowledgment seriously when weighing whether a waiver is enforceable, so signing without reading can work against you later.

Some section-specific or facility-specific versions ask for extra details, such as an emergency contact, a health insurance carrier, or a brief medical history. These fields vary by organizer and are not part of the national template. Fill in whatever is on the form you’re given. Incomplete forms can slow down check-in or flag your entry as pending.

How to Submit the Form

For most USTA tournaments, you bring the signed form with you and hand it in at on-site registration. The tournament waiver spells this out: “This form must be presented at on-site registration in order to participate in the event.”¹ Tournament directors check for signed waivers before clearing a player on the draw sheet, and arriving without one can delay or prevent your participation.

If you use the Formstack online version, you complete and sign the form digitally, then either print a signed copy or submit it electronically, depending on the tournament’s instructions. Electronic signatures are legally valid under the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, which prevents contracts from being denied enforceability solely because they were signed electronically.⁶ Still, confirm with the specific tournament whether a digital submission is accepted or a printed copy is required at the desk.

The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center handles things differently. Players booking programs or court time sign an annual waiver through their NTC profile, valid for 12 months. Tournament players and single-day event participants without NTC profiles complete a single-use daily waiver instead. For juniors at the NTC, only the primary account holder can sign the annual waiver on the child’s behalf, and the daily waiver requires a parent or guardian to list both names.⁷

What You Are Agreeing To

The waiver carries real legal weight. The standard release language covers four things:

Release of liability. You release the USTA, event organizers, their officers, agents, volunteers, and employees from all claims for injury, illness, property damage, or death arising from the event, whether caused by their negligence or otherwise.³
Assumption of risk. You acknowledge that tennis activities “may be dangerous” and accept full responsibility for risks including bodily injury, exposure to infectious diseases, death, and property damage.³
Indemnification. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless the event organizers from any loss, liability, damage, or cost they incur because of your participation. If someone sues the USTA over something that happened to you, you could end up responsible for their legal costs.³
Covenant not to sue. You promise not to file a lawsuit against the USTA or event staff for injuries sustained during the event, including travel to and from the venue.¹

The release describes itself as “a complete and unconditional release of all liability to the greatest extent allowed by law.”³ That “greatest extent allowed by law” qualifier is an acknowledgment that some claims cannot be waived regardless of what you sign.

Medical Consent and Who Pays

The form also includes a medical release authorizing event staff to provide emergency first aid or arrange treatment if you’re injured or become ill. By signing, you consent to “the rendering of emergency first aid and other medical procedures which at the time of injury or illness as seems reasonably advisable.”¹

The financial clause is easy to miss. You also agree that you “will be responsible for payment of any such medical procedures.”¹ The USTA is not picking up the tab for an ambulance ride or an emergency room visit. Confirm your health insurance is current before you step on the court; the clause means organizers have no obligation to cover treatment costs, even for injuries that happen on their facility.

What a Parent Is Signing On To

Parents signing for a minor are not just granting permission. The guardian acknowledgment binds the parent personally to every provision of the waiver, including the liability release, the indemnification, and the covenant not to sue. The template states that “all representations, consents, agreements, grants, waivers, authorizations, indemnifications and releases herein shall be regarded as made by me on behalf of the Minor and shall be binding on me and the Minor.”³

The parent also agrees “to be bound by and to perform all of the terms and conditions of the foregoing Release and Waiver (including, without limitation, the provisions regarding release of all claims).”³ In practical terms, the parent waives not only the child’s potential claims but their own right to sue on the child’s behalf. Whether that provision holds up varies by state; many jurisdictions limit a parent’s ability to waive a minor’s future negligence claims. Signing it still creates a legal hurdle that would have to be overcome in litigation.

What the Waiver Cannot Do

Signing does not make the USTA untouchable. The form’s reach is shaped by state law and public policy.

The biggest limit involves gross negligence. Courts have generally held that a sports or recreational waiver cannot release an organizer from liability for gross negligence, meaning a complete lack of care or an extreme departure from what a reasonably careful person would do. The USTA’s template does not explicitly address gross negligence, and the release covers claims “whether caused by the negligence of the Releasees or otherwise.”³ If a court found that a tournament organizer’s conduct crossed from ordinary negligence into gross negligence, such as forcing play during a severe lightning storm or ignoring a known structural hazard on the court, the waiver would likely not shield them.

The template also includes a severability clause: if any part of the agreement is found invalid, that part is severed while the remaining provisions “independently survive and remain in full force and effect.”³ For a player, that means you cannot assume the whole document is void because one clause looks overreaching. The rest of it likely still applies.

How Long a Signed Waiver Lasts

Validity depends on the context. At the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, the annual waiver lasts 12 months from the date you sign it. Players who have not signed within the past 12 months must renew before registering for programs or booking court time.⁷

For individual sanctioned tournaments, the waiver generally covers that specific event. The tournament language releases the USTA from claims “in connection with my activities during the period for which such permission is granted and any period traveling to and from the events described.”¹ A waiver signed for a June tournament does not automatically carry over to a September event. If you play multiple tournaments in a season, expect to complete a new form at every check-in desk unless the tournament director confirms a prior submission is on file.

1
United States Tennis Association. USTA Waiver and Release Form
2
USTA. USTA Waiver – Formstack
3
United States Tennis Association. Release, Waiver, Assumption of Risk, and Indemnity Template
4
United States Tennis Association. 2025 USTA League Regulations
5
United States Tennis Association. USTA Sanctioned Tournaments Player Eligibility Requirements
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S.C. Chapter 96 – Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce
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USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Waiver and Release