Bogus Surveys, Made-Up Numbers, the USTA Deception Machine is Humming

Hello, dear readers, friends, and racquet sports enthusiasts.

I apologize for being late this month. We had some medical emergencies in the family that needed a lot of attention.

During the past couple of weeks, my focus was on the latest USTA participation numbers. While I created a rough concept for an article, Dave Miley sent me his take on ITF participation numbers, and he also questioned them. See his article “On World Tennis Day I ask.......Is Tennis Participation worldwide really growing?” in this issue. I have to tell you, folks, I agree with most everything he’s mentioning as inconsistent. However, as a former ITF executive, he’s very polite, of course. I would be much harsher in criticising ITF report numbers. You can find my take on the topic under “Things that make me go hmmm…”

Didn’t get any response to my article about TIPTY last month (TYPTI: New Sport or a Touchtennis Rebrand?). On the other hand, I haven’t heard anything about TYPTI. Is Bellamy marketing the new sport? Did it die already? Who’s playing it? Is the price of the equipment scaring people away? I’d love to talk to people playing TYPTI.

Had an interesting conversation with Andrew Motyka of Upward Onward Digital and Lukas Jenkins of True Planet. Imagine your members enter your club and their phones automatically connect to your Wifi. No guest network selection, no passwords, no captive portals. All with encrypted, carrier-authenticated access. It’s called Wifi Offload Technology. There could potentially even be an infrastructure revenue layer funded by carriers. Check out the article under Facilities (Carrier-Grade Indoor Connectivity That Pays Racket Sports Facilities).

Decided to leave this GoFundMe appeal in this month since they raised over $86K of the $100K goal. Maybe we can help them reach their goal?

Saw this Facebook post by College Tennis Coaching Legend Dick Gould and decided to repost it here. Regardless of whether you knew Scott Davis or not, if you have a few dollars to spare, help out a fellow tennis coach. Click on the image to get to the GoFundMe page.

PTR International Racquets Conference

I liked the conference at Saddlebrook. Put a report together and have a suggestion for next year. Hope you’ll like it! Check out my article: Why I loved the PTR/PPR International Racquets Conference 2026.

Tennis Ball Recycling

Thank you, Paul Steele, Director of Athletics at Sunset Hills Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California. Paul is my hero when it comes to recycling used tennis balls. One of the goals of my company, Conga Sports, is to keep as many tennis balls as possible out of landfills and help others to do so, too. We have so far collected almost 15,000 used tennis balls and shipped them to RecycleBalls for recycling. Sunset Hills Country Club has been a real help, and we take used balls off Paul Steele’s hands every month or two.

The image was taken last month when I picked up another 500 balls at Sunset Hills.

A big month is ahead of us. March sees the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, RacquetX in Fort Lauderdale, and the Miami Open.

While I write this, it’s 80 degrees in Southern California, but I do hope you all stay warm, especially in the Midwest and on the East Coast, and wish you dry courts wherever you are teaching or playing.

Rich Neher
Co-Publisher

Rich and Tim,

I appreciate you including our "Lite Tennis" and website in the featured article on TYPTI, in the recent RB February Issue.

We have been developing our user-friendly game since summer '21, and now we're getting extra attention...Thanks, TYPTI.

SoCal is our strongest player base of participation and support. We've made LT ball sales in all 50 states and have players of all ages...young and young at heart. Buff Farrow and I plan on making a positive impact within the tennis industry soon...growing participation with a racquet in hand on a Lite Tennis / Pickleball court.

Thanks,

Leo Estopare
Lite Tennis, co-founder
www.litetennis.com 
[email protected]

Rich,

Check out this Sportico article. I agree with the question in the headline:
The USTA’s New CEO Settled This Lawsuit Once. Will He Do It Again?

The Commish
Everywhere, USA
Pronouns: They/Them

Re: USTA Competing with Clubs and Pros Threatens the Livelihood of Private Businesses

West Palm Beach ditches USTA, selects star’s company to operate tennis centers

Re: INTENNSE

• Diego Schwartzman Joins INTENNSE™Team Ownership Group

• Centerline Athletics Joins INTENNSE as Official Apparel Partner for 2026 Season

• Registrations for INTENNSE 2026 Season Wrap-Up with 373 Players

• INTENNSE Announces Assembly Studios as Official Home for 2026 Season

Re: ITIA and Doping

===> Two tennis players slapped with huge bans and fines after breaking corruption rules
Two tennis players have been banned for a combined total of more than six years after they were found to have broken anti-corruption rules. Gustavo Tedesco and Gyulnara Nazarova, from Brazil and Russia, respectively, were sanctioned by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) on Wednesday.
Read more

===> Former world No.5 tennis star banned for over two years after admitting to payments
Ex-tennis doubles star David Marrero will be banned until May 2028, the International Tennis Integrity Agency has confirmed. Marerro, 45, who is best known for his doubles career which saw him reach No.5 in the world, has been handed a significant ban.
Read more

===> Three tennis players provisionally suspended under Tennis Anti-Corruption Program
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) today confirms that three tennis players have been provisionally suspended, pending the full consideration of Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP) charges. 

Suspensions have been issued to Mark Kaufman, from Russia, under TACP section F.3.b.i.1 (failure to comply with a Demand), and Draginja Vukovic and Mila Masic, from Serbia, under TACP section F.3.b.i.4 (likelihood of a Major Offense).
Read more

===> Argentinian tennis player sanctioned for match-fixing offenses
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) today confirms that Argentinian tennis player Leonardo Aboian has been suspended for a period of six years and nine months, and fined $40,000 (of which $25,000 is suspended) after admitting to 30 breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP).
Read more

Another year, another USTA survey, another set of annual tennis participation numbers I usually call “bogus” because they just don’t make sense. According to their 2025 report, participation rose by 6% to 27.3 million players compared to 2024.

I don’t know how they finagle those surveys to show growth every year, and I don’t want to accuse Sports Marketing Surveys in Florida of outright cheating. It is clear that they actually believe in the results of their survey, but I was able to show 10 years ago that the faulty basis of their assumptions is the reason for the data output that just can’t be correct anymore.

One thing seems clear to me: The USTA needs to show growth in tennis participation every year in order to justify its nonprofit/NGB status and, at the same time, keep the sponsors happy, and I don’t think they care how SMS arrives at those positive numbers.

Here are the facts about those annual reports and why I call them bogus. (And I’m glad that Dave Miley backed me up with some of his findings.)

USTA’S HISTORY OF MANIPULATING NUMBERS

Historically, USTA national and probably all of the sections have found it necessary to manipulate participation numbers. League participation is the best example. When a section like Intermountain publishes 17,000 league registrations, they usually omit the fact that it’s only 7,000 unique players who register for leagues. Some of those players register on 10 teams every year. While the number of unique players goes down, the number of registrations goes up, and so is the age of those players.

Since the USTA and its sections have failed for decades to attract young people to the sport of tennis and steadfastly refuse to consider suggestions from outside of the organization on how this can be done, we are now in this precarious situation where the average age of league players is over 60, the number of registrations is increasing, and few younger people are coming into the fold.

So, manipulating numbers is in the USTA’s DNA, and that’s the first reason why we should always be sceptical when they issue participation reports.

BALL SALES DON’T ADD UP

As we have documented a few issues ago, tennis ball sales do not corroborate the reported participation growth. There is really not much else to say. Numbers don’t lie. All those phantom new players need balls to play with. Right? They didn’t buy any.

My best guess: Last year’s ball sales would suggest there are merely 15-20 million tennis players in the U.S.

LEW SHERR’S UNFORCED ERROR IN 2024

The former USTA CEO admitted in a 2024 interview that almost 98% of the 5 million new adult players the USTA claimed picked up tennis during COVID 19 had already left the sport. Those kinds of numbers were whispered about when I worked on the USTA Tennislink team (2006-2010). So I’m pretty confident they are true. But Sherr wasn’t supposed to reveal that dirty little secret. He had to go.

My question: Why are those 4.8 million lost players still being counted?

THE LOSS OF 10,000+ TENNIS COURTS TO PICKLEBALL

The New York Times revealed it and suggested that by 2035, the total number of converted tennis courts could reach 20,000. The most recent data from the (now defunct) TIA suggested there were around 15,000 facilities (private and public) in the U.S., with around 100,000 tennis courts. (Plus another 150,000 to 170,000 private courts).

Of those 100,000 tennis courts in facilities, 10% have disappeared in the past 5-8 years. You are honestly telling me that we added millions of players while we lost 10% of our club courts? If you do, I have a bridge to sell to you.

In my January 2026 Publisher’s Notes, I wrote under USTA Coaching: Should we believe the PR? ”Claims that tennis participation has grown to 26 million players while pickleball simultaneously reports more than 20 million participants are highly implausible and, at a minimum, difficult to reconcile. Taken together, these figures strain credibility and may reflect overlapping counts, inconsistent methodologies, or inflated reporting rather than distinct, additive player populations.”

To quote David Puddy in Seinfeld, "No way, this is bogus, man!"

CourtReserve Renews Partnership With RSPA to Bring Modern Club Operations Tools to Teaching Pros

As part of the agreement, CourtReserve will continue as the Official Club Management Software Provider of the RSPA. Read more.

USOP National Pickleball Center Selects CourtReserve as Official Club Management Software Partner

The USOP National Pickleball Center operates 65 courts and hosts one of the sport’s most visible annual events — the US Open Pickleball Championships. Facilities at that scale require reliability and systems built to perform under pressure. That’s why USOP NPC chose CourtReserve to support its operations. 
Read more.

Craig Tiley confirmed as new USTA CEO

I give him the benefit of the doubt. However, I’m asking again: Do we really need a CEO who is a master in making a Grand Slam bigger and better? Doesn’t it show the real priorities of the USTA Board? A bigger US Open means more revenue for salaries, perks, benefits. Woohoo, money will be growing on trees again! (See also my last month's article New USTA Spending Spree Pours $1.4 Billion Into Two Zip-Codes)

USTA Florida: 2026 FHSAA Tennis Season Kicks Off

The 2026 Florida High School Athletic Association Tennis season is officially underway, with over 1,000 boys’ and girls’ teams across the state competing for the ultimate prize, a State Championship. From powerhouse programs looking to defend their titles to hungry contenders ready to make their mark, this season promises intense competition and no shortage of exciting storylines. 
Read more.

BNP Paribas Open gets underway in Indian Wells

• How to watch the BNP Paribas Open

• Dunlop, Yonex Become New Official Partners in Tennis Paradise

• Venus Williams Receives Wild Card Into BNP Paribas Open

New ED at USTA Eastern

Congratulations to Amber Marino, the new Executive Director of the USTA’s Eastern section. Looking at her bio, she seems exceptionally qualified for this job. (Press release.) Amber has some big shoes to fill after longtime ED Jenny Schnitzer retired at the end of last year.

The Funniest ATP Interview Moments