TENNIS IN AMERICA AND THE TYRANNY OF THE INCAPABLE.

By Javier Palenque

Tyranny and the Rule of Law

Plato and Aristotle both developed important ideas about government and politics. Two of the many political subjects that these men wrote about were tyranny and the rule of law. Tyranny occurs when absolute power is granted to a ruler. In a tyrannical government, the ruler becomes corrupt and uses his power to further his own interests instead of working for the common good. Being a not-for-profit for tax purposes and protecting only the interests of the US Open and its key interest is a tyranny. Not allowing dissent voices and forbidding dialogue is a tyranny. Covering mistakes ( losses of $180M) and selling assets is a mistake covered by the status quo.

The rule of law is the principle that no one is exempt from the law, even those who are in a position of power. The rule of law can serve as a safeguard against tyranny because just laws ensure that rulers do not become corrupt. If the USTA has $360M in cash and tennis is dead, that is not the result of many voices, that is the consequence of special interests. Read on to find out how the USTA has destroyed tennis and how it covers its malfeasance and wants to come across to the public exactly as it is not. It is a club run by the Ol' Boys who control the sport and have destroyed it. They are scared of light as it would reveal their shenanigans.

This morning I decided to write another article so I can try to enlighten the tennis-loving people in the world, knowing that the leaders of tennis in the USA (the brilliance-deprived USTA) choose not to read as a principle. When I was a kid and I did not want to read something, my mom always pointed to our dogs (purebred Belgium shepherds) and said, they can’t read, you choose not to read, something is messed up don’t you think, Javier? So, of course, lesson learned, reading is my life. This is why I see so clearly just how wrong and incapable the USTA leadership is.

Tennis in America is dead, no matter what the USTA says. The logical thing would be for many of us, who do not think alike, to be sitting at a table and discussing how the state of tennis can no longer be and solving the conundrum for the benefit of the sport, our kids, our coaches, and the nation. To do this takes leadership, vision, a truth serum, and lots of humble pie. None of which the USTA has or is willing to have since any smart person's recommendation would be, "The problem is your leadership"! I simply do not accept being so well funded as a sport, so wasteful with limited resources and so poorly led by choice. Very much the same as I used to do when I was seven and did not care to read any books that my mom put in front of me. Does the word ineptitude that I use to describe the USTA leadership now sound gentle to you? It is and it should.

In the 80s a wonderful economist from the University of Chicago, Milton Friedman, wrote a book called The Tyranny of the Status quo. This book I read in college and it is so well written and has so many clear facts that it seems it was written yesterday. Everything from the book applies to today and our current problems. In it, the author describes how three key players or forces prevent any change from happening for the benefit of the greater good of society. The forces are The Special interests, The Politicians, and the Bureaucrats. In tennis that would be the US Open fallacy, the Ol' Boys and The Employees. If you simply use his example and then compare tennis and its players and morbid forces, you will realize just how hopeless the state of tennis is if the players/ forces remain the same. There is hope if they are not involved.

The solution for tennis relies on the problem, and the problem won’t go away. This is a big mess. Tennis people don’t quite understand these dynamics, and hoping for change is simply not possible. Take note of free enlightenment in these 500 words Novak Djokovic, and your PTPA.

By failing to have new leadership from outside the status quo, the cost of the failure is paid by the sport itself, never by the people causing the expense. This is why even though the USTA is in its best financial position (Special Interest), the sport has never been weaker or more in danger of disappearing in front of your eyes.

Please do not believe me, all you must do is when you drive, wherever you go, anywhere, look at the tennis courts in schools, all empty, look at the tennis courts in parks, all empty. On weekends if you find anyone playing, try to figure out their age, it's mostly grandpa playing and for one hour at best.

You see the way I see things, why would I want the same Ol’ boys at the discussion table if they are the problem, why would I want to speak to the executives if they are the bureaucrats who sustain the problem and live off it? I would not, they are nothing more than “welfare people in suits” which are no different than welfare queens living in the poorest neighborhoods in the country’s housing projects. These people milk the system and see no problem or cost to the damage they create. When I request a board meeting to enlighten the best-funded sports organization in the nation, I get my email blocked, they order employees to not communicate with me and act like petty tyrants in a Banana Republic, exactly as I describe them. Do you think it is because I lie or because I am saying what they all know and keep quiet about, and want to make sure no one figures this out? and hope I go away. I am not going away and will simply expose what they do.

One last point, the top three male players today, Fritz, Tiafoe, and Shelton all learned for free. Yet the USTA CEO, somehow believes that player development at $23M per year is a good investment for decades. He also believes that all sections for 60M kids in the country should get $56M. Incompetent, inept, and obtuse are simply too kind words to describe the nefarious leadership. For those who did not get the inference, how can anyone fund $56M to reach 60M kids and half of that to create players in PD (400 kids at best), and yet the players at the top learned for free and not at the USTA? We need better use of the funds if we want better playing kids. These people are mindless, yet bonuses will be handed out because the US Open sold more expensive seats. The priorities are upside down. What matters is how many more kids play and the facts are; too few.

The problem of tennis is the leadership and the do-nothing board. Today they sit on $360M, and yet the average coach is too old, cannot make any money, and therefore make the game for most out of reach just to survive. The young don't think of coaching as there is no money in it to raise a family. This means no teaching, and no courts especially if pickleball is eating courts daily and of course no funds.

I want the Chairman, the CEO, and the rest to RESIGN, they are useless to the very game they are supposed to protect and only care for their petty jobs and individual self-interests. That is exactly the kind of leadership that no one needs.

I SAY NO TO INEPTITUDE AND YES TO GROWING THE GAME

I can be reached at [email protected]

PS. In case it is not clear, America wants all of you to RESIGN.