GEN Z AND THE INCAPABLE USTA LEADERSHIP By Javier Palenque

Oh, the glorious state of American tennis under the stewardship of the Head Incapable at the USTA—where facts are irrelevant, spin is king, and tennis is apparently "growing" while ESPN loses millions of subscribers per year, and the sport hemorrhages relevance among the youth—the most important demographic for its survival. But if you live in America, no worries! As long as the overweight bankers with their Rolexes and corporate expense accounts get their exclusive access to Arthur Ashe Stadium in August, all is well in the world of tennis. Right?

Iga Swiatek, the world’s #1 female player, just gave the most damning indictment of the sport’s direction: After Rafael Nadal’s retirement, she outright admitted she had no real reason to watch men’s tennis. This is a 23-year-old athlete who has spent her life immersed in the game, and she, a Gen Z player, felt so little connection to the sport beyond her favorite player that she nearly tuned out entirely.

Let’s think about this for a second. If the number one women’s player—the pinnacle of the sport—feels detached when one player leaves, what does that say about the way tennis has utterly failed to cultivate lasting generational interest? Of the 60 million kids of tennis-playing age in America, the USTA has managed to capture a pathetic 98,000—just 0.1%. And of those? A staggering 75% quit by age 13, with only a tiny handful playing past age 16. The future of tennis? It’s on life support.

The Head Incapable’s master plan to fix this crisis? A five-star disaster:

1. Have the so-called "Community CEO" join the Tennis Industry Association board and report absurdly inflated participation numbers so the public remains blissfully ignorant of the sport’s demise.
2. Position tennis as a playground for rich old men who funnel money into its welfare system.
3. Avoid securing any new sponsors in 16 years, instead lock the old ones into long-term deals that guarantee stagnation.
4. Ensure the bathrooms at the US Open remain spotless so bankers can relieve themselves in comfort while sipping overpriced cocktails.
5. Lie about everything. As long as no one cares, no one will notice.

Hard to imagine a more foolproof recipe for failure, yet the USTA Board rubber-stamps this catastrophe year after year, just as long as their all-expenses-paid meetings continue to feature luxury hotels and gourmet meals.

But of course, why should the USTA’s Head Incapable care? Why should he concern himself with the idea that young people are increasingly alienated from the sport? He’s too busy orchestrating tennis’s two-week pop-up circus in August, where the real focus isn’t on the game—it’s on the curated parade of quota-filling influencers, wannabe celebrities, and PR-friendly marketing darlings who will never, ever pick up a racket again once the cameras stop rolling. But hey, as long as it looks good on social media and the right people say the right things, mission accomplished, right?

This is a textbook case of generational disconnect. The players, the leadership, and the fans exist in completely separate universes, none of which seem to intersect in any meaningful way. The players? They’re trapped in a broken ecosystem that fails to inspire long-term passion, as evidenced by Swiatek’s admission. The young fans? They’re flocking to sports that actually understand digital engagement, rather than a sport that thinks an Instagram post in August constitutes a grassroots initiative. And the leadership? They belong to a bygone era where tennis was an elite pastime for the old-money crowd, and their primary concern is keeping that illusion alive rather than growing the game for the future.

Tennis is rapidly becoming the modern-day equivalent of polo—a sport no one plays, no one watches, but that somehow still exists. Just as polo has its overpriced cologne collecting dust in outlet stores near abandoned tennis courts, tennis has its dwindling relevance peddled by a leadership that refuses to acknowledge reality so that their welfare is not removed from them. Look around any major city park: the tennis courts are empty, repurposed, or in complete disrepair, yet the USTA will swear that tennis participation is booming. Where? In their welfare-funded imagination, nestled right next to their safe zones and DEI initiatives that accomplish absolutely nothing for the sport but sound good to the ill-informed.

Tennis in America is not growing; it is gasping for air while the USTA leadership throws itself a victory parade. Public courts are empty, youth participation is in freefall, and cities have long since replaced tennis courts with soccer fields, pickleball courts, or, in some cases, parking lots—because at least people will pay to park a car. The very institution that exists to grow the sport is, in reality, suffocating it with apathy, arrogance, and incompetence.

The USTA isn’t building for the future; it’s hosting a perpetual cocktail party for itself. The old boys’ club remains fat and happy while tennis loses its grip on new generations, and the Head Incapable—call him Head BOZO, as Eugene Scott once so aptly did—continues to pretend he’s presiding over a renaissance instead of a funeral procession.

Accountability? Innovation? Real investment in the sport beyond the two-week spectacle in August? Don’t be ridiculous. It’s far easier to pretend that tennis is thriving while the youth, the cities, and even the game’s top players scream otherwise.

Wake up, America. Or better yet, Ol' Boys step aside and let someone who cares about tennis—not just the perks of running it—take over before there’s nothing left to pretend about. How about leadership with no BOZO's is that too much to ask?

I say NO to ineptitude and YES to growing the game.

I can be reached at [email protected]