In July of 1912 a group of tennis players led by Eugene E. Neff of El Paso, Texas met at the El Paso Chamber of Commerce to create the Border States Tennis Association. In 1927 the Border States Tennis Association became the Southwestern Tennis Association, encompassing the states of Arizona, New Mexico and El Paso County in Texas, and the organization became a sectional association of the then United States Lawn Tennis Association. In 1958 the Association was divided into four districts: Phoenix, Southern Arizona, Northern New Mexico and Greater El Paso and in 1959 the Southwestern Tennis Association was incorporated in Arizona. In 1993, with another name change the organization became the USTA Southwest Section.In 1999, the four districts that comprised the Section were restructured to become eight Chartered USTA Community Tennis Associations (USTA Phoenix Area, USTA Northern Arizona, USTA Southern Arizona, USTA Southeastern Arizona, USTA Greater El Paso, USTA Southern New Mexico, USTA Southeastern New Mexico). This was done to provide more direct USTA program delivery to local communities and representation of those communities on the regional board. There are currently more than 12,500 individual and organization members of USTA Southwest Section.