USTA's 2015 Tax Return; Who Shouldn't Play College Tennis?; Top Seeds Advance at USTA Winter Nationals

Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated tweeted out a link to the USTA's 2015 tax return a couple of weeks ago, and I wanted to make sure that information didn't fall through the cracks here at Zootennis.com during my busy time on the Florida junior circuit.

The top USTA employees' salaries are always in the spotlight, but that's not the only place the USTA spends its considerable revenues, and it's interesting to look at the grants, which are detailed in the document.

The Intercollegiate Tennis Association, for example, received a $45,000 grant in 2015, which does not include the $20,000 grant for what I presume is the Intercollegiate Indoor to the National Tennis Center. The University of Central Florida Foundation received $125,000, which I would guess relates to the new collegiate facility in Lake Nona, where Central Florida will play its matches. The USPTA and PTR coaching organizations receive grants from the USTA, as does World Team Tennis, the International Tennis Hall of Fame, the Tennis Industry Association and many others

Court line grants were popular in 2015 and there were many grants for facility assistance and program excellence. You can see how big the grant was for your section, and see what the USTA grant is to Player Development ($17,617,466 in 2015).  Three ITF events in the United States received grants of varying amounts from the USTA: the International Hard Courts, International Grass Courts and the Pan American Closed.

The grants are the most detailed part of the return, and offer a glimpse at the scope of the USTA's involvement in tennis at all levels. The other expenses are not broken out in any meaningful way, so how much the USTA contributes to say, USTA Pro Circuits in prize money, is not specified.

Although a non-profit, the USTA is obviously a huge business, and the tax return goes a long way toward demonstrating that.

The Tennis Recruiting Network has been publishing regular articles by former University of Oklahoma women's coach Dave Mullins, and while all are worth your time, the most recent, with the provocative title of "College Tennis is for Losers" is particularly enlightening.  Mullins holds an imaginary conversation, but one that he's certainly engaged in before, with a private coach who voices the sentiments of the headline. Mullins knows otherwise of course, but he is also able to understand that the collegiate path isn't right for everyone. The kind of coach who would argue vehemently against college tennis may not be the kind who would read this article, but it's important for those families who have children considering both pro and college tennis.

The first round of the 16s and 18s USTA Winter Nationals is complete, with the top two seeds in all four divisions advancing to Wednesday's second round in Scottsdale. Top boys 18s seed Alex Brown had his hands full with Brandon Lam, but came through with a 7-5, 6-7(4), 7-6(6) win. No. 2 boys 18s seed Richard Ciamarra was also taken to three sets, beating Brandon Freestone 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

The 12s and 14s in Tucson are playing two rounds today, and some of the first round match results of the B14s are not yet posted, but below is the update for all Top 8 seeds as of 9 p.m. Eastern.

B12s
1. Jackson Armistead
2. Cooper Williams
3. Lucas Brown
4. Phillip Dell
5. Jelani Sarr
6. Cole Stelse
7. Learner Tien
8. Will Mayew

B14s
1. Maxwell McKennon
2. Aryan Chaudhary
3. Matthew Robinson
4. Alex Lin
5. Peter Murphy
6. Sam Feldman
7. Filipe Costa
8. Baylor Sai out 1st rd

B16s:
1. Brandon Nakashima
2. Cannon Kingsley
3. Andrew Dale out 1st rd
4. Robert Cash
5. Siem Woldeab
6. Ryder Jackson
7. Jacob Bullard
8. Nathan Han

B18s:
1. Alexander Brown
2. Richard Ciamarra
3. Mason Beiler
4. Maxwell Freeman
5. Christian Alshon out 1st rd
6. Ryan Seggerman
7. Robert Maciag
8. Matthew Lord

G12s
1. Vivian Ovrootsky
2. Matilyn Wang
3. Tsehay Driscoll
4. Meera Jesudason
5. Gracie Epps out 1st rd
6. Liv Hovde
7. Phoebe Peus
8. Stephanie Yakoff

G14s
1. Gianna Pielet
2. Ava Catanzarite
3. Muskan Mahajan out 1st rd
4. Kylie Collins
5. Jenna DeFalco
6. Neha Velaga
7. Jennifer Kida
8. India Houghton

G16s
1. Angelica Blake
2. Briana Crowley
3. Sedona Gallagher
4. Dasha Kourkina
5. Lauren Stein out 1st rd
6. Ashley Yeah
7. Niluka Madurawe
8. Jayci Goldsmith

G18s
1. Hannah Zhao
2. Samantha Martinelli
3. Janice Shin
4. Elysia Bolton
5. Anika Yarlagadda
6. Abigail Forbes
7. Sara Choy
8. Chelsea Kung