The 35 honorees were selected by the USTA Tennis & Education Foundation from applicants around the country on the basis of their commitment to academic success, their local community and the game of tennis.

The MassMutual Foundation is supporting the USTA Tennis & Education Foundation with 35 college scholarships annually for the next three years for a total contribution of $525,000. Each year, at least one scholarship will be awarded in each of the USTA's 17 sections throughout the country. The program builds upon MassMutual's current association with the USTA as a USTA Corporate Champion sponsor of the US Open Tennis Championships.

"On behalf of MassMutual, I'm pleased to award these scholarships and help support the future of these fine young men and women. They have clearly demonstrated leadership and academic abilities," said Copes. "All of them are talented and deserving students whose college education will now be more affordable. We wish them the best as they continue their education."

Through all organization-wide educational initiatives, MassMutual and the MassMutual Foundation are providing nearly $900,000 in scholarship funding to students in 2005.

  Here's a list of the 2005 honorees and their USTA Section:

  Section    Name                High School              Hometown
  Caribbean: Mirelva Colon       Col. Beato Carlos M.     Bayamon, PR
              de Jesus            Rodriguez HS
             Noelia Cruz         Notre Dame HS            Caguas, PR
              Rodriguez

  Eastern:   Claudiu             W. Tresper Clarke HS     Westbury, NY
              Andries
             Jonathan Chan       Poly Prep Country        Brooklyn, NY
                                  Day School

  Florida:   Matthew             North Broward School     Coconut Creek, FL
              Presser
             Alysha Puleo        Cocoa Beach HS           Cocoa Beach, FL
             Roxanne Bras        Gateway HS               Celebration, FL

  Hawaii:    James Odan          Kauai HS                 Lihue, HI
             Beverly             James Campbell HS        Ewa Beach, HI
              Pascual

  Intermountain:
             Paige Brookie       Durango HS               Durango, CO
             Tawnie Hall         Northridge HS            Layton, UT

  Mid-Atlantic:
             Cathy Nimitz        Deep Run HS              Glen Allen, VA
             Sean Vander         Winston Churchill HS     Potomac, MD
              Linde

  Middle States:
             Alexa Baggio        Southern Lehigh HS       Center Valley, PA
             Justin Landis       Downingtown HS           Downingtown, PA


  Section    Name                High School              Hometown
  Midwest:   Dayton Opel         North HS                 Sheboygan, WI
             Sebastian           Mary D. Bradford HS      Kenosha, WI
              Price

  Missouri Valley:
             Garwen Chen         Parkway North HS         St. Louis, MO
             William             Cleveland HS             Cleveland, OK
              Fielding

  New England:
             Courtney Leak       James Hillhouse HS       New Haven, CT
             Lindsay Smith       South Kingston HS        Wakefield, RI

  Northern California:
             Scott Parkey        Buchanan HS              Clovis, CA
             Justin Shoolery     Palo Alto HS             Palo Alto, CA

  Northern:  Lisa Nguyen         Eastview HS              Apple Valley, MN
             Allison Tews        Springfield Public HS    Springfield, MN

  Pacific Northwest:
             Zak Nelson          Medical Lake HS          Cheney, WA
             Jill Valdez         Lakeridge HS             Lake Oswego, OR

  Southern California:
             Raquel Bucayu       Santa Maria HS           Santa Maria, CA
             Lauren Shearer      Campbell Hall            No. Hollywood, CA
                                  College Prep

  Southern:  Shivani Gupta       Evans HS                 Evans, GA
             Fan Yang            School of Fine Arts      Birmingham, AL

  Southwest: Stephanie Jerzy     Pinnacle HS              Phoenix, AZ
             Lindsey Keeler      Red Mountain HS          Mesa, AZ

  Texas:     Veronica Hernandez  Raymondville HS          Raymondville, TX
             Jennifer Shyu       Jersey Village HS        Houston, TX

MassMutual Financial Group -- comprised of member companies with over $350 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2005 -- is a global, growth-oriented, diversified financial services organization providing life insurance, annuities, disability income insurance, long-term care insurance, retirement planning products, structured settlement annuities, trust services, money management, and other financial products and services.

The MassMutual Financial Group is a marketing name for Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company and its affiliates, which include: OppenheimerFunds, Inc.; Babson Capital Management LLC; Baring Asset Management Limited; Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers LLC; MML Investors Services, Inc.; The MassMutual Trust Company, FSB; Antares Capital Corporation; MML Bay State Life Insurance Company, C.M. Life Insurance Company, and MassMutual International, Inc. MassMutual is on the Internet at http://www.massmutual.com/.

The MassMutual Foundation for Hartford, Inc. (MassMutual Foundation) is an independent, private foundation under Code section 501(c)(3). Its primary function is to financially assist organizations operated exclusively for charitable, educational and other permitted purposes.

Established in 1994, the USTA Tennis & Education Foundation promotes -- through tennis -- educational excellence, good citizenship and self- improvement to at-risk and other special needs youth. The Foundation awards hundreds of scholarships to American youth, and supports new initiatives that reach out to inner-city youth. It also supports community tennis programs that link tennis with education to provide positive role models, academic assistance, and life skills for the prevention of substance abuse, violence and school-dropouts.

The USTA is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the U.S. and is a not-for-profit organization with more than 665,000 members. It owns and operates the US Open and, in 2004, launched the US Open Series which links 10 summer tournaments to the US Open. In addition, it selects the teams for the Davis Cup, Fed Cup and the Olympic and Paralympic Games. It invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, from the grassroots to the professional levels. For more information on the USTA, log on to http://www.usta.com/. For more information on how to learn tennis fast, visit http://www.tenniswelcomecenter.com/.

  For more information, contact:
   Alex Palombo, Publicist, Community Tennis, USTA
   914-697-2308; palombo@usta.com
   Mark Cybulski,  PR, MassMutual
   413-744-5427; MCybulski@MassMutual.com

Source: The MassMutual Foundation for Hartford, Inc.

CONTACT: Alex Palombo, Publicist of Community Tennis, USTA, +1-914-697-
2308, palombo@usta.com; or Mark Cybulski, PR of MassMutual, +1-413-744-5427,
MCybulski@MassMutual.com

Web site: http://www.massmutual.com/