WHEN THE BOARD ITSELF, WORKS AGAINST THE MISSION OF THE NONPROFIT, YOU GET THE USTA.

Imagine hiring a babysitter for your child, of course, what is implied is that the babysitter will take care of the baby while you cannot. Then imagine finding out that it is the very babysitter you hired that neglects the child and when you come home, all looks OK, but you have an eerie feeling that it is not. Well, my dear friends, if the board is the babysitter of the sport and it is the same board that neglects the sport, then you have a problem that needs immediate attention. The first thing you do is fire the babysitter. We need to get rid of the board and the group of incapable leaders of the USTA. Read on to understand why.

So let us start by pointing you to an article posted two days ago by the propaganda machine of the USTA, read it here is the link, after reading it you would think all is good. Then proceed to just read the facts that I will present and then conclude if the USTA respects you or if they think you are as dumb as a brick. Remember the more uninformed you are, the better it is for the status quo, so it makes sense for them to reasonably create the illusion of success when the exact opposite is true. Their jobs are on the line.

Here are the real facts:

In the years the USTA claims the biggest gains ever in participation by race and age, membership revenue is at its lowest number in decades. How do you explain that USTA?·???If no new members are captured by the USTA out of 5.9M new players, what is then the value of the USTA and the purpose of the $88M payroll for the game then? compare to the membership collected in 2007. A $6M drop is the equivalent of 30%.

• Please understand that there are only 330K adults in the USTA system, imagine in two years they claim the sport has 5.9M new players or the equivalent of 18 X more players, and with this 18X more players they attracted NO ONE NEW and lost $3M worth of revenues from the year BEFORE. This $3M represents 20% of all membership revenue. This is no laughing matter if you are a serious business person.
• This proves how they only care about the two-week show for wall street types, which has nothing to do with tennis, and more to do with drinks, food, and clean bathrooms.
• If the business is selling clean bathrooms, foreigners playing, drinks, food, and only lasts for a mere 14 days, why have an $88M payroll and not most people working part-time and instead a $40M payroll and the $48M saved for programs for kids? This would make sense.
• Remember Since Dr. Hainline has been on the board since 2007, $6B was received by the USTA and today there is nothing to show for that amount of money other than debt, high salaries, waste, and nothing for the sport. It is the same Dr. Hainline who has accepted the massive payroll expense that brings losses, and stagnation to the game and nothing for the game.

USTA claims that 23.6 million people playing the sport represents an increase of 5.9 million, or 33 percent, since the start of 2020.

• A 33% increase in players should mean a huge increase in ball sales, right? If you just think that these new players purchase two cans per year that is a total of 35.4 million new ball sales. Yearly the USA consumes 100M balls, how can 5.9M new players consume no new balls if the reported ball sales are the same for the last 4 years? This is another lie they promote.

USTA claims that more than $750,000 was awarded to more than forty-five total projects, with $285,000 going to new construction projects.

• The country has 42,000 zip codes, so if the USTA gives out $750,000.00 that is the equivalent of $18.00 per zip code. That is the price of a beach towel. You be the judge.
• The same calculation is for the $285,000.00 for new construction projects and you get the whooping number of $7.00 per new project per zip code, for two Gatorade’s you would be short one dollar. If it is not clear the USTA gives nothing as you can conclude.
• Do you ever wonder what is the tax benefit of the non-profit designation and how much they save by having that? do you think it is a pathetic 0.2%. This is called a reverse scam, they scam the government BY not paying federal taxes, they use the money they save for themselves and they scam the public with misinformation when what they do fails. This is called fraud, and the board says what?

To give you a better picture yet, revenues are around $485M per year and they give out roughly $750k to $1M in the year where they claim that growth is 33% and in millions of players. Hold on to your seats, the best-funded sport in the country gives out 0.2%, in other words, a fifth of a penny, look at the picture below so you understand the scam. If there was a currency to compare it to, it would be a fifth of a penny. Please listen, people, this is the truth.

USTA claims that 70% of tennis is played in public parks, yet the amount they fund is a pathetic $285,000.00.

• Compare that to pickleball which invests a lot more. In one zip code alone in Atlanta, a group will invest $2,000,000.00, Remember our country has 42,000 zip codes. Here is the link to validate what I say. So, what happens to the other 41,999 zip codes USTA?
• In Miami, a new tennis court costs around $60K, which means that the USTA funded the construction of at best 5 courts last year in the entire nation. Pathetic, especially if one considers that they claim there are 5.9M players that need to play and they would use the parks. Where I live, Miami, Pickleball is taking over 60% of all tennis space. This is physically impossible to assert, and yet the USTA board does just that.
• So let us recap, the USTA prides itself in budgeting $285K for 5 courts when there are 5.9M new players in a country of 330M people and 42,000 zip codes. This is laughable and borders on stupidity, and the chairman of the board approves this deception as does the board? and what say you dear reader, are you shown respect or simply the opposite?

I will end this factual article with my comments on the false diversity numbers that the USTA uses to convey the image of inclusion and diversity and progressiveness to its ill-informed clients and partners.

• For this exercise, it is important to remember how the country is made up.
• Total US population 330M
• Total Black population in the US is 47M or 13%
• Total Asian population in the US is 22M or 7%
• Total Hispanic population in the US is 63M and 19%
• Total White population in the US is 205M people or 62%.
• Now look at the false information the USTA publishes and think along with me.

Blacks

• According to USTA 2.3M play, which is 5% of the Black population.

Asians

• According to the USTA 2.4M play, that is 11% of the Asian population.

Hispanics

• According to the USTA 3.8M play or the equivalent of 6% of the Hispanic population.

Whites

• According to the USTA 15.3M play or the equivalent of 7% of the white population.

For the past years, I have been going to junior and professional events all over the state and the country, the US Open, Indian Wells, Delray Beach, of course, Miami, and the world. If you want me to believe that proportionally more Asians play than whites and that the number of blacks proportionately is like that of whites that play tennis, or that the number of Hispanics that play proportionally is the same as whites, you must be from a planet where Santa lives, elves speak, animals have pensions and lawyers, people are honest, politicians do not lie, everyone is a millionaire and that same place in America where we don’t have an education, obesity, racism or drug problem. This place does not exist, nor do the facts that the USTA board presents to the country. If you are a US Open sponsor, where is your due diligence for your shareholders? why do you support such a scam and associate your name with the scam? contact me at the email at the end of the article.

I have never read a more ludicrous statement in my life than the one the USTA people put out. If you still doubt me, simply ask how many Hispanics are on the USTA board, or Black people, or Asians?

If that is still not clear, let us look at the executive team other than the diversity head, a new member, who has been hired just recently.

You see dear reader, the USTA board and executives deceive you knowing full well that you are not going to notice or complain or do anything about it. Another thing they know is how old you are and know that you will not do anything other than endure the lies and deception, you won't fight because you are up there in age. This is horrible and unethical and the Chairman of the board says what? Where I come from we respect the elders, take their advice, and make sure that the end of their days is dignified and proud. This is called civility.

If what I am saying were not true, then the USTA would publish the exact number of people who play by age, race, gender, and zip code. The reason they do not is that the numbers are so bad that they concoct lies and elaborate deceptions so that they keep their jobs, remain unaccountable, and always rely on a study from some third party that is not theirs. Is that not enough lies for you?

I hope that you as a reader realize how little these people respect you, the game, or the nation. This is proof of just how small-minded they are, how much they fear the articles I write, and how they wish no one would read the exact opposite of their false claims. The fact is one of us is correct and it is not them. A female politician had a good word for describing that kind of leadership and men, DEPLORABLE.

What is the board to do? What they have always done, nothing. This is why I find it incomprehensible to think that board members support the lies and fraud that are so openly promoted to the country. With this kind of leadership, all we should expect is failure, massive debt, low TV ratings, high attrition, low adoption, expensive prices, and of course mediocrity. Seems like it is exactly what the Dr. ordered, and the game? and the kids? and the parks? and the parents? and the cities? and how about the future of tennis in the nation?

Who thinks that it is time for the board members and executive team to RESIGN and let the cognoscenti run the best-funded sport in the nation for the benefit of all, not just a few old men? What they all do is simply IRRESPONSIBLE!

I Do! Any others?

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

I can be reached at [email protected]