QUESTION

How confident are you in the leadership and board of directors of the USTA?

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COMMENTS​

• USTA should promote tennis! NOT pickleball!. Pickleball does 2 things to tennis, 1 it takes converts tennis courts, 2 it takes tennis players. DONE

• Too focused on the Open and the cash.

• too much money in wrong direction

• I believe there’s new younger board members that offer fresh new ideas

• They continually promote (not always intentionally) tennis as an elitist sport. They miss the boat for tennis as something for everyone. The sponsors they select, ticket prices, tournament costs, all say that this sport takes money. The people who will buy Rolex and Polo , and fly Emirates airline seem to be their only target market.

• Dr. Hainline is a visionary leader. Alan Schwartz helped get the USTA on solid financial footing by increasing the revenue opportunities at the US Open. Dr. Hainline is similary a game changer with health, wellness and promoting sportsmanship.

• USTA Admin. Salaries are too high. Who regulates salaries for sectional employees?

• I don't think they have growing the game as their top priority.

• Brian Hainline may be able to accomplish something as he is a tennis person.

• Can’t implement anything

• Dedicated and passionate.

• Community Tennis (Kamperman & Schultz) killed the organization with their “program of the year” experiments. The expensive roll-outs & program material costs were allowed without scrutinizing from the Board. Big checks went out to the Sections & the business changed. Pro Tennis was the cash cow that kept every part of the company alive. The numbers in the Comm Tennis outcomes, even for NJTL, are always questionable because kids are counted every time they walk into a facility. For all of his faults, Tom Fetzer, who Kamperman pushed out, understood the mission of the USTA & made genuine efforts to grow the game as well as expand its reach to minority populations. He was smart, and best of all, he was a Southern gentleman who didn’t just talk about introducing tennis - along with after school & summer programs that included tutoring & mentoring - to underserved populations. Fetzer’s initiative, “First Serve” was getting a lot of traction until Kurt & Scott arrived & scrapped it. If permitted to expand with the help of the USTA Foundation, First Serve would have provided opportunities for more young people to continue their educations & grown the game with these young people & their family members. Tennis would have been the family recreation choice.

• Too much beauacracy

• They have destroyed amateur tournament tennis. Also, in a sport in which individual honesty is expected and required for fair competion the NTRP encourages flat out lying and junior tennis and other non officiated matches I. E. High School tennis is rife with cheating

• zero confidence

• Run by people who don't love or even play tennis. Bureaucracy that rivals the federal government. A budget that has enormous amount of money devoted to salaries. Get rid of the entire staff and start over. Start hiring people who love and have a background in tennis. Use that US Open money on tennis at grass roots and parks instead . USTA should also be trying to help coaches and those in the business. By helping coaches and those in the tennis business they are actually helping the vitality of tennis. USTA does nothing for coaches/pros.

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QUESTION

How confident are you in the leadership and board of directors of the USPTA?

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COMMENTS​

• They have lost focus of their mission. Most of the BOD is fine. They need new leadership.

• the USPTA does NOT listen to it's members.

• I think the USPTA is the Titanic, and is sinking!

• Didn't Embry lose is job at Wilson, help bankrupt Penn, help bankrupt Balle de Match, and isn't he now in the process of tanking the USPTA? And why does he feel everyone is so beneath him?

• Confident of new Board in 2024 - 2026

• None of the board members of USPTA know anything about coach education, kind of strange when they claim they’re leaders in coach education.

• I'm not a member of the USPTA.

• John Embree knows the problems with US Tennis and the shortage of Tennis Professionals. He is working hard to grow tennis and the tennis professional industry and the USPTA.

• What's up with their Certification accreditation with the USTA.

• John is great but the effectiveness of the organization is dwindling

• Too much business oriented and not enough outreach.

• Lost wilson and accreditation same year

• Seem to be in disarray. Too much employee turnover.

• Entitlement on the part of volunteers, particularly on a national level, has been obscene for the past 20 years. Having attended Annual & Semi Annual meetings as a longtime staff member, it was a farce to send invitations to elderly former national board & committee members. Yes, they served the USTA in the past, but thinking that seniors in wheelchairs with portable oxygen would actively participate in meetings (particularly those who’d bring both their spouse & a health care aide) was ludicrous. I’m not anti-Senior but the extensive list of invitees should have been reviewed annually. Too many people feel entitled to travel as well as tickets to the President’s Box at the U.S. Open long after their term of service. It costs the USTA a fortune.

• Leadership NO Board YES

• Why not just sell out completely to USTA

• i think they do a pretty good job overall

• I like the USPTA. Have been a member a long time but now starting to see that the USPTA is developing an ever-growing interest in pickle ball. Nothing against PB but it's clear they see this as another way to get money. The new "racket sports professional" title is very telling.

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QUESTION

How confident are you in the leadership and board of directors of the PTR?

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COMMENTS​

• Dan Santorium tries hard and PTR is having an impact.

• Jockocracy hiring and promoting buddies and inviting friends to speak at events.

• Board members understand their role and allow staff to follow their direction without micro managing.

• I Dan does a great job with his vision for PTR

• They need to retain their independency, and not let the USTA tell them what to do.

• I'm not a member. I do know that Dan Santorum has a wealth of knowledge.

• Not a member

• The board looks good and knowledgeable. I wish they would focus more on tennis.

• They had a great symposium

• Too much focus on Pickleball and political posturing

• PTR IS ALWAYS ON THE CUTTING EDGE OF EDUCATION. We need teaching pros and they are are best 

• Too much of an old boys club that has a small amount of old girls in their ranks. There was a lot of noise over Arlen Kantarian’s salary & his ideas that transformed the US Open. Boy, could they use him & his right-hand person Michelle DiPhilipantonio Wilson now! They packed the seats, got kids interested in the game & made the USTA a FORTUNE! Rick Ferman & Lee Hamilton were very good CEOs who were focused on the mission of the organization. They also were held in high regard by White Plains staff at all levels.

• At the moment they have their act together better than the others

• I think PTR has been leader because of Dennis’s vision and insight

• Not familiar enough to comment but everybody can’t earn one way

• never had much faith in PTR

• Same as with the USPTA, I feel like PTR is adding pickleball to what they think a tennis pro should know. Imagine a PGA golf pro having to add miniature golf to his "certification"? Should I keep supporting my own "union" that isn't opposed to the reducing of tennis courts?