USTA Announces New Player Pathway Department, GM Martin Blackman Out in Reorganization; ITF Approves Off-Court Coaching for 2025; Australian Open Wild Card Challenge Standings; Goode and Giribalan Claim First ITF Junior Circuit Singles Titles

At the beginning of this month, USTA's Director of Coaching Ola Malmqvist announced his retirement; today another major Player Development departure was announced with General Manager Martin Blackman leaving in the wake of a reorganization that will establish what the release below refers to as a "transformed department." Blackman has led Player Development since 2015, when he took over from Patrick McEnroe.

I know that USTA CEO Lew Sherr has decided to take a more hands-on approach to Player Development since the organization came under fire for the drastic budget cuts to the department, which were brought to light be a scathing email by former Director of Coaching Jose Higueras.

The Player Development Advisory Council, announced in August, is mentioned below; I don't believe they've had their first meeting, but this would seem like the ideal time to seek their input as the USTA begins its search for new leadership. With head of women's tennis Kathy Rinaldi and head of men's tennis Kent Kinnear continuing in those positions, they should also be valuable sources when it comes to finding candidates who understand the scope and intricacies of this new department.

There's no denying that the USTA has now lost decades of institutional knowledge with the departures of Malmqvist and Blackman, making the experience and dedication of a new leader of utmost importance. The full USTA release: 

USTA CREATES SINGLE COHESIVE DEPARTMENT TO ENHANCE SUPPORT 

FOR PLAYERS AT ALL LEVELS OF THEIR COMPETITIVE PATHWAY 

 

Combines Player Development, Pro Circuit, Team Events, Collegiate and Junior Competition Teams to Optimize Resources and Support for Elite Athletes 

 

Current General Manager of Player Development Martin Blackman to Step Down; Search for a Leader of the Newly Combined Team Now Underway 

 

ORLANDO, Fla., October 21, 2024 – The USTA today announced that it is reorganizing to better support players at all levels of their competitive pathway with Player Development, Pro Circuit, Team Events, Collegiate and Junior Competition teams now combined into a single cohesive department. The intent is to improve internal collaboration and enable the USTA to strategically  direct resources where they are needed most for the benefit of the most competitive junior and  professional players. 

 

With these organizational changes, Martin Blackman has decided to leave the organization. While stepping down from his current position as General Manager of Player Development today, Blackman has agreed to stay on as a Special Advisor through the end of the year to ensure a smooth transition. 

 

“It has been an honor and a privilege to serve American tennis in this role for the last ten years and I am grateful to the USTA for giving me that opportunity. The work that our Player Development team has done, in partnership with the private sector and the USTA Sections, has been a labor of love,” said Blackman. “I am proud that we were able to build a pathway that has supported the resurgence of American tennis, the credit for which goes first and foremost to our amazing players, and the teams surrounding them, whose commitment and work ethic have driven this progression and success. The opportunity now exists to align our amazing growth at  the grassroots level with our success at the top of the professional game and expand the pathway  for juniors of all levels, and to amplify that growth and expansion with the USTA's increased  emphasis on coaching. I wish the USTA, my amazing Player Development team and all of my  colleagues in the private sector and Sections the best as they grow and promote the sport that  we all love.” 

 

Over the past two decades, Blackman has had two separate stints at the organization — including  the past ten years as the head of USTA Player Development. In this role, he played a key part in revitalizing U.S. tennis, bringing it to a level of prominence not seen in decades, as evidenced by the historic performance of American players at the 2024 US Open. 

 

“On behalf of the entire USTA family, I want to thank Martin for his many years of dedication to American players. We appreciate the contributions he has made to further the success of our athletes during his tenure, and we wish him the very best in his future endeavors,” said Lew Sherr, USTA Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director. “Thanks to years of effort and dedication from Martin and so many others, a new era of American tennis is clearly upon us. Our challenge now is to build on that achievement. The USTA will continue to support elite athletes on their  journey, while working to find new and better ways to provide the resources players need for  ongoing and future success.” 

 

The USTA is also creating a new, more expansive position to lead the newly transformed department. A search for this leader will begin soon. Kent Kinnear and Kathy Rinaldi will continue to lead men’s and women’s tennis, respectively, under the leadership of this new position. 

 

Along with these important organizational changes, the USTA’s recently announced Player  Development Advisory Council — a powerhouse group of current and former players, parents,  coaches, USTA Section leaders, and tournament operators — will help guide the organization’s  path forward. The group remains in the early stages of its work and is expected to provide recommendations for how the USTA can further enhance its support for high-performance American players later this year.

The International Tennis Federation announced today that off-court coaching will no longer be prohibited, as the lower levels of the sport now fall in line with the ATP and WTA beginning in 2025. Coaching has been allowed at the slams for juniors for several years (my Tennis Recruiting Network article last fall on coaching at the junior level is here), and it never made sense to me to restrict coaching at the junior level, where it is obviously more pertinent to a player's development, while allowing it for the top pros. I know enforcement of the rule is nearly impossible in juniors, particularly with so few matches chaired; very few officials will be sad to see that part of their jobs disappear.

From my understanding of this decision, the USTA can continue to have its own rules regarding coaching, which now allows it only between the second and third sets, and I expect they will, but I think the ITF events in the United States will allow it now.

The article on the ITF's decision to allow off-court coaching can be found here.

This is the final week of the women's Australian Open Wild Card Challenge, and Ann Li has moved into second place with her finals appearance last week at the W100 in Macon Georgia. With Hailey Baptiste and Bernarda Pera likely to get in based on their current WTA rankings, Li is the most likely recipient, although Iva Jovic and Mary Stoiana, both playing the W100 in Tyler Texas this week, are still in the running, as is Sofia Kenin, who is competing in the main draw of the  WTA 500 in Tokyo after receiving a wild card. Jovic and Stoiana, who are in the same quarter, would need a semifinal appearance to catch Li, who is not in the Tyler draw. (UPDATE: Li is playing the WTA 125 in Mexico this week).

The current top of the women's standings in the Final Week (player's current ranking in parenthesis):
1. Hailey Baptiste (80) -- 230
2. Ann Li (108) -- 104
3. Bernarda Pera (79) -- 95
4. Mary Stoiana (316) -- 79
5. Iva Jovic (248) -- 76
6. Sofia Kenin (155) -- 71

The field at the ITF J60 in Lexington South Carolina was not as strong as usual, with Hurricane Milton preventing many Florida-based juniors from traveling to the tournament. There was no girls qualifying, and many of the boys in qualifying did not have to play a match to advance to the main draw. 

But the boys 64-player main draw was full and the girls had 62-players in the main draw, and first-time champions were crowned on Saturday.  Sixteen-year-old Gavin Goode won his first ITF Junior Circuit singles title, with the No. 2 seed defeating top seed and doubles partner Mason Taube 6-1, 6-4 in the final. Goode and Taube, the top seeds in doubles, had taken that title Friday, beating unseeded Tej Bhagra and Chase Kelley 6-2, 6-2 in the all-USA final.

Sixteen-year-old Kaia Giribalan won the girls singles title, her first ITF Junior Circuit title, with the No. 12 seed beating No. 14 seed Janae Preston 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(2) in the final.  No. 5 seeds Ellery Mendell and Ireland O'Brien won the girls doubles title, beating No. 7 seeds Ariana Ikwueme and Caroline Manzi 6-2, 6-0 in another all-USA final. 

This week's ITF Junior Circuit event in the United States is a J60 in Rome Georgia, with James Weber and Jordan Lee the top two boys seeds, and Olivia Traynor the top girls seed. Weber lost his opening round match today to Anthony Dry 6-3, 6-4.

The Lexington titles were the only two for Americans in singles, but two US girls did advance to finals at higher level tournaments. 

Thirteen-year-old Hannah Ayrault, who was unseeded, reached the singles final at the J100 in Mexico, retiring down 6-0 to top seed Hikara Yamamoto of Japan. Ligaya Murray and Mexico's Marianne Angel won the doubles title, with the top seeds defeating No. 4 seeds Hadley Appling and Yamamoto 2-6, 6-3, 10-8 in the final. 

At the J200 in Bolivia, 15-year-old Nancy Lee reached the singles final, with the fifth seed falling to top seed Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi of Argentina 6-2, 6-1 in the championship match. Lee also made the doubles final, with Welles Newman; the No. 6 seeds lost to top seeds Larraya Guidi and Agustina Grassi of Argentina 7-6(9), 6-4 in the final. Nischal Spurling reached the boys doubles final with Cesar Cruz of El Salvador. 

The only other title for an American last week came at the J30 in Ethiopia, with 18-year-old Kashish Kant earning her first ITF Junior Circuit title in doubles, with partner Presha Shanthamoorthi of India. The top seeds defeated Batriz Dias and Bruna Liotto de Carvalho of Brazil 6-2, 6-1 in the final.

Fourteen-year-old Jana Kovackova defeated her older sister Alena, the top seed  6-4, 6-2, to win her second consecutive J300 title, this past week in Spain. Unseeded, Kovackova beat the top three seeds in straight sets en route to her 10th straight win at the J300 level. She is now up to 23 in the ITF junior rankings, and is the only player, boy or girl, born in 2010 in the Top 100.