An engineer overthinks tennis in a daily journal.
A local tennis center in my area, Hurst Tennis Center, was delayed in reopening after the COVID-19 shutdown. I have subsequently learned that part of the reason for this is because the municipality was considering shutting down the facility and using the land to expand the adjacent water park. As it turns out, the tennis center is a cost rather than a profit center for the city.
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As the USTA works through the ongoing effort that re-imagines the structure of the organization to get closer to players at the local level, I think that the concept of “encourage and foster” has to be one of the primary guiding principles.
Yesterday we discussed that USTA National league regulations enable the local sections to create residency rules to encourage and foster local league play. We wound up on a rule from the Texas Section regulations that I believe was created under that general umbrella. It should come as no surprise to anyone who regularly follows this site, that I have some questions about this rule. Today we are going to focus on the definition and determination of a city center.
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From Warren Kimball’s Raising the Game USTA history book, it is apparent that USTA League tennis blossomed despite an absence of attention from the USTA National office. As I examine the rules and regulations of league play, I am doing so with the understanding that the popularity of leagues preceded the national structure and regulation. I think that is critical to understanding the relationships.
Books about tennis do not sell very well. It is kind of a surprising fact when you think about it. Tennis is generally thought of as a smart person sport. Smart people read books. Yet somehow tennis players, who are incredibly passionate about playing the sport, don’t read books about it.
During a standard game or a tie-break game, if the players are at the wrong ends of the court, the error should be corrected as soon as it is discovered and the server shall serve from the correct end of the court according to the score.
As I was watching “Schroders Battle of the Brits” a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that Andy Murray was wearing what I assumed to be a back brace during one of his early matches. I was trying to figure out the exact nature of his new apparent ailment before I noticed that all the other players were also wearing the same device.
Last week on Sport’s Illustrated podcast “Beyond the Baseline,” host Jon Wertheim interviewed Donald Dell. Dell is a former professional player, broadcaster, and agent. He is also a former US Davis Cup Captain and represented Michael Jordan. Dell made a bold statement that caught my attention given my current exploration on growing the game. The context was in attracting young athletes to the sport of tennis.
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Non-profit organizations are required to file IRS Form 990 every year which is open to public inspection. USTA National, USTA Texas, and all of the CTAs are independent non-profit organizations. As such, they are required to file Form 990 with the IRS. They are also required to make these forms available for public examination. Hey, that’s me!
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As I wrote about yesterday in “Mowing the Grassroots of the USTA House”, I have been thinking a lot about the relationship between the USTA national office, the individual USTA sections, the local USTA Community Tennis Associations (CTAs), and the local league players. Today I want to focus very specifically on the CTAs. I suspect that a lot of players are only vaguely aware of CTAs and the purpose they serve in the USTA ecosystem.