Q and A with New USTA CEO: Illinois Senior Kovacevic Faces Big Decision; Mississippi State Players Return to Italy; Resources for Sharpening Tennis Skills at Home

The April issue of Racquet Sports Industry has the first interview I've seen with new USTA CEO Michael Dowse, who took over for Gordon Smith at the beginning of the year. This interview came before the current COVID-19 pandemic, so it obviously doesn't address any of the issues, but you have to feel for Dowse now, with both a new job and a huge crisis to contend with. The statement from Dowse that I found most interesting was this one:

The long-term health and growth of Parks & Recreation tennis must be led at the grassroots level. The USTA should act as a partial funder, facilitator and service entity to the grassroots network of providers. But we’re going to get away from just throwing money at an issue. If we’re going to invest significant funds in this—or any—initiative, we’re going to do so informed by hard metrics that validate if what we’re investing in is indeed driving new participation and retention. If validated, then we will accelerate and continue to support the program. If participation in that area continues to decline, then we will recalibrate and work to find the correct formula for that community. 

While the USTA may have significant funds to invest as of now, Dowse may be facing a different challenge in keeping grass roots programs going if the US Open is canceled for 2020. That decision doesn't have to be made now, and the Open is still five months away, so we are all keeping our fingers crossed, for the health of the sport in the US, that it proceeds as scheduled.

Like many seniors, University of Illinois senior Aleks Kovacevic must decide whether he will return for another year after what would have been his final year of eligibility was cut short early this month. Kovacevic, the first Illinois player to make the NCAA singles semifinals since Kevin Anderson in 2007, is now back home in Florida, where he'll take this break to think about his future, according to this Champaign News-Gazette article. Until the NCAA announces the terms of this extra year of eligibility, and until each school decides how it would fund both its freshmen and its returning seniors, many seniors will wait until they have that information.

Sports Illustrated published an article yesterday about several international student-athletes attempting to make their way home after spring sports were canceled, and two of those featured are tennis players from Mississippi State: Giovanni Oradini and Davide Tortora. Oradini and Tortora are from Italy, making their return particularly fraught, with their parents risking arrest for picking them up at the airport, with a strict lockdown in place. Oradina and Tortora describe how their country and their families are handling the quarantine as the casualties mount in both Italy and the country they just left, the United States.

Lisa Stone at Parenting Aces has begun collecting resources for those who are hoping to keep their tennis skills sharp during this prolonged layoff. You can find links to these here, and if you have others to share, please contact Lisa so you can be included.

USTA's Net Generation program is providing information in a series it is calling Tennis At Home, which includes video drills and instructional videos from Madison Keys and the Bryan brothers. Educational content via the USTA Foundation's Academic Creative Engagement (A.C.E.) Curriculum is also part of this initiative.