More on USTA Agreement to Delay Junior Competition Changes; Duke Wins Tennis on Campus Fall Invitational, Kyrgios Signs Pro Contract; Okuda Wins Grade 2 in Japan; ADNA's Sacrifice Blog

I quickly put up a post this morning announcing that the USTA has delayed all changes to the 2013 schedule and will hold a series of Town Hall Listening Meetings about the changes passed at the March 2012 USTA Annual Meeting. (The document detailing those changes can be found on this page at usta.com.) Please visit the TennisInsiders website, one of the many media outlets of Tennis Channel founder and tennis parent Steve Bellamy, to read the complete statement signed by those attending the meeting. Comments are encouraged.

Fox News' Sean Hannity, another of the tennis parents who was at Sunday's meeting in Chicago, posted a few thoughts on the meeting at his blog.

Coach and internet radio host JP Weber wishes there had been a tennis coach (thanks to Parenting Aces for the link), instead of so many affluent tennis parents in that meeting, but I honestly can't see anything but positives from this. Despite the stark reality that the changes were discussed and passed at the March meeting, the USTA has agreed to reopen the dialogue and delay the few changes that were scheduled for 2013, including reducing from 192 to 128 draws in the 16s and 18s for Clays and Nationals, and from 64 to 32 draws for regionals after July 1.

I have said ad nauseum that I think these changes are a mistake (my original and still-valid comments on the proposals are here), but even if they are not substantially altered, I think the USTA is showing it has and will listen, which is the upshot of this USA Today followup story. You can be sure I will do all that I can to let people know when and where these Town Hall meetings will be.

Some quick links:

The Tennis on Campus initiative has proven to be an extremely popular intramural program, one that the USTA should take great pride in.  The Fall Invitational was this past weekend in Hilton Head, SC, and Duke beat defending champion Virginia to win the gold division.  Both teams have earned automatic qualification to the Nationals next April in Surprise, Arizona. For more on this tournament and Tennis on Campus, see this release on usta.com.

Nick Kyrgios of Australia, the top seed at this week's ITF Grade A Osaka Mayor's Cup, has signed a professional representation contract with Global Tennis Connections.

Ayaka Okuno of Japan, who is coached in Las Vegas by the LMFAO pop star Redfoo, won the ITF Grade 2 in Japan last week, her first ITF junior singles title.  The No. 7 seed beat No. 8 seed Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine 6-4, 7-6(3). Top seed Nikola Milojevic of Serbia won the boys title.

The Athletic DNA junior tennis apparel company has begun a blog called "Sacrifice," which will feature junior players they sponsor. The first entry details the rare tumors that Connor Masella is fighting.