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Tennis News • USTA Cuts Jobs, Allaster Reportedly New U.S. Open Tournament Director

By Ricky Dimon

It has not been a good year for tennis. Heck, it has not been a good year for any sport. After all, there just isn’t anything anyone can do about a worldwide pandemic. Tennis has been at the mercy of the coronavirus since mid-March and it looks like things could get worse before they get better.

They certainly got worse for the USTA earlier this week.

On Monday, the USTA announced a major reorganization that includes shutting down its offices in White Plains, N.Y. and cutting 110 jobs. That represents a reduction in its national staff by 20 percent. In total, the various measures implemented to reduce costs and generally downsize the organization will save more than $20 million. Some of those measures are reducing salaries at the management level, canceling the USTA’s annual and semi-annual meetings, and eliminating select programs in both marketing and player development.

“We have an opportunity to reimagine the structure of the organization to better serve the tennis community in the United States,” USTA CEO Michael Dowse stated. “This new structure allows the USTA to be more agile and more cost effective…. Unfortunately, today represents a challenging day for many of the USTA family who have been negatively affected by the downsizing of the organization.”

The USTA’s main offices remain at the national training center in Orlando, Fla. That campus is the headquarters of player development, it hosted the 2019 collegiate national championships (will do so again in 2021), and has been rumored to be a potential site for the 2020 U.S. Open if the tournament is able to played but unable to be hosted in New York.

Former WTA CEO and current USTA chief executive for professional tennis Stacey Allaster will be named the new U.S. Open tournament director.

Speaking of the U.S. Open, former WTA CEO and current USTA chief executive for professional tennis Stacey Allaster will be named the new tournament director. She will replace David Brewer in that role, becoming the first-ever female tournament director of any Grand Slam event.

Ricky contributes to10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.