USTA Head of Women's Tennis Rinaldi Departs; Inside American Tennis Newsletter; Arkansas Begins Quest to Save Tennis Programs; Goode and Lee Advance at Vero Beach M15; Teen Wild Cards Post Wins at W35 Boca Raton

Kathy Rinaldi, the head of women's tennis, announced last night on Instagram that she was leaving the USTA and will be starting a tennis academy in Palm Beach Florida.

Rinaldi's 18 years at the USTA, after a successful pro career that saw her reach No. 7 in the WTA rankings, began as a National Coach and she spent many years in that position before being named head of women's tennis and serving as captain of the Fed/Billie Jean King Cup, which her team won in 2017. 

Although I had been following junior tennis for several years before Rinaldi took the USTA job, we overlapped for the majority of my career as a journalist and her career as a coach, and I saw her frequently at not just the major junior events, but at smaller ones too, always watching of American girls and women and supporting them before, during and after their matches. She was always positive, encouraging and approachable, and while there are many reasons for the continued success of American women's tennis, Rinaldi deserves credit, not only for her role in building a culture, but for being so visible and so committed to an inclusive view of a Player Development position that holds great power and responsibility.

This is the internal memo, supplied to me by the USTA, which announced her departure to the USTA staff.

Kathy Rinaldi, Player Development’s Head of Women’s Tennis and one of the USTA’s most prominent lead national coaches since 2008, stepped down from her role at the USTA on April 30, and she has agreed to stay on in a consultancy role through August 31. We will be initiating a search for her successor in the near future.

Kathy's tenure with the USTA is marked by a commitment to the highest standards of integrity and helping players achieve their full potential – on and off the court – always prioritizing the person before the athlete. Her leadership has helped create a lasting foundation for American tennis with a culture of mentorship, strengthening teams, coaches and athletes with a relationship-based, team-first approach.

For much of the last 20 years, Kathy has been at the forefront of women’s tennis in America. The amount of players she’s coached and mentored is too long to list – from junior world champions to world No. 1s to Grand Slam winners and beyond, and her influence on this current era of success for U.S. women’s tennis is immeasurable. She captained and coached the USA to titles at every level of team competition – from the 14-and-unders, to the 16-and-unders, to the 2017 Billie Jean King Cup and medals won across two Olympic Games – and truly helped define an era. She will always be known as one of the preeminent mentors of her time.

We thank Kathy for everything she’s done for our game, and we wish her all the best in her next chapter.

Rinaldi's goodbye on Instagram was considerably longer, featuring her gratitude to the sport of tennis, her colleagues, her family and many others in the tennis community. She provides more details on her plans, and I'm grateful she is staying in tennis, as it's difficult to imagine tennis in the United States without her.  I've created a pdf of her Instagram post, which can be found here.

Last month the USTA created a new Substack newsletter called Inside American Tennis, which I did not know existed until today. But I was delighted to see lengthy feature articles on 16-year-old Welles Newman, who won her first title last month at the W15 in Orlando, and 17-year-old Jack Kennedy, who had a breakout April with a M15 title and a Challenger semifinal and final. There is also a weekly recap of notable American results on all levels of the pro tour; here is last week's.

I've always found the USTA's website difficult to navigate for news, with silos for sections and pros and juniors, etc., so this newsletter is the perfect solution to highlight results of Americans who might not be as well known to the general public, but can develop interest and fan bases for the future. Sign up for the free newsletter at https://insideamericantennis.substack.com/.

Supporters are not willing to see the Arkansas tennis programs cut without a fight, and this article from bestofarkansassports.com details who is leading the mission to restore them, with substantial funding already raised.

To sign a petition to restore the programs, click here.

At the M15 in Vero Beach Florida today, wild card Jordan Lee and Junior Reserved entrant Gavin Goode have advanced to the second round with straight-sets wins today. Lee, who celebrated his 16th birthday Monday, defeated qualifier Jon Gamble 6-2, 6-0 and will play former ATP No. 39 JJ Wolf(Ohio State), also a wild card, in Thursday's second round. Wolf defeated No. 2 seed Raphael Perot(Texas A&M) of France 6-3, 6-2. 

Goode defeated No. 3 seed Aidan McHugh of Great Britain 6-1, 6-4 and the 18-year-old will face wild card Hunter Heck(Illinois) on Thursday.

Wild cards Annika Penickova and Capucine Jauffret both won first round matches today at the W35 in Boca Raton Florida. Jauffret, 18, beat qualifier Anita Sahdiieva(Baylor, LSU) 7-6(5), 6-4; Penickova, 16, defeated Luiza Fullana of Brazil 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-2 in just over three hours. Jauffret will play No. 8 seed Ranah Akua Stoiber of Great Britain, while Penickova will take on qualifier Carson Tanguilig(UNC), who beat No. 2 seed Gergana Topalova of Bulgaria 6-2, 6-1.

Alexis Nguyen, 18, also reached the second round, beating Thaisa Grana Pedretti of Brazil 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in three hours and 15 minutes.

At the W100 in Indian Harbour Beach, 16-year-old wild card Kristina Liutova defeated qualifier Allura Zamarripa(Texas) 6-1, 6-0 in 56 minutes to reach the second round. Amelia Honer's winning streak ended at 10, with No. 2 seed Elvina Kalieva defeating the former UC-Santa Barbara All-American 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Second round singles play was rained out today at the ITF J200 in College Grove Tennessee, with those matches now on Thursday's schedule, along with the doubles semifinals.