Letters from July 2026

Is The Commish the most popular industry expert?

Author

Rich Neher
July 23, 2026

Re: USTA Coaching 15K Strong

Good morning,

Saw this on Facebook today. Had to look at the calendar. I thought today must be April 1.

15K...wow.  From the same people who bring you the tennis participation numbers. Written by Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm.

There was one comment. Mark Bishop from Hawaii commented, "When are you coming to Hawaii again?  I want to get certified by the USTA." 

Warning to tennis players in Hawaii: "You don't want to take lessons from anyone named Mark."

This is not certification. It is a participation trophy. Attend a clinic, pay a few bucks, and you are a USTA pro. The janitor where my kids went to school had more rigorous training than  the USTA provides. 

The RSPA and PTR deserve to go out of business for letting the industry think this is certification. 

The Commish***
Everywhere, USA
Pronouns: They/Them

Rich,

Maybe they are trying to bring better understanding to the phrase often used to describe someone who is not all there… ”They are certifiable.” 😜

The Commish***
Everywhere, USA
Pronouns: They/Them

Rich,

The USTA states it has 15,000 coaching members. Every event they have is a sales job for it, with the USTA giving free 1-year rally memberships. I wonder how many of the 15,000 were free.... I bet more than 80 -90% on the conservative guess.

With all the policy changes, intentional players will find it much harder to stay after graduation and teach/coach. There could be a coaching shortage in the near future.

The Commish***
Everywhere, USA
Pronouns: They/Them

Re: Tennis Stars Presented the World Cup Trophy

Rich,

Once again, tennis players are highlighted in the most celebrated global sports events. In the 2024 Olympics in Paris, our own Rafa Nadal was featured carrying the Olympic Torch in the opening ceremony. And yesterday, in New York, Carlos Alcaraz presented the World Cup Trophy to the stadium of fans and Team Spain and Argentina. What an honor for both men and our sport, showcasing them as role models…double wow.

That shows the world within sports: tennis players are recognized as some of the leading athletes not only for their winning championships on court but for their sportsmanship attitude and character…kudos and props to our competitive image worldwide.

Let’s grow our game…we have the popular stars!

Leo Estopare
Wichita, KS

Re: Updates coming to the ITF World Tennis Number

USTA is the winner of the 2026 Spiro Agnew/Dan Quayle Award for Being Irrelevant - and there are still five months in the year. 

On 7/21, the USTA announced that updates are coming to the ITF World Tennis Number.

Wowwee, Zowwee!

The surprising thing about this notice is that it is debatable whether the USTA knows anything about WTN - they are still trying to figure out the meaning of WTF (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday).  

USTA is fixated on promoting NTRP and pretending the UTR doesn't exist.  Double Wowwee Zowwee!! They should get the award twice for 2026.

Rich,

The ITF (International Tennis Federation) officially rebranded to World Tennis on June 25, 2026, “aiming for a simpler, modern identity.”

The USTA sends out the “Update to the ITF World Tennis Number” email almost a month later and totally ignores the name change. Did they not get the memo? Or did they not want to bother with a headline that would read “Update to the World Tennis World Tennis Number?”

Did the ITF not think about that conundrum before announcing the change?

Boy, are they all screwed up!

The Commish***
Everywhere, USA
Pronouns: They/Them

***Who is the Commish?***


Reminder: The (original) Commish has been writing for us off and on since June of 2021. Here is the first article: You CAN Fool Most of the People All of the Time. Over time, we allowed all readers submitting Letters to the Editor to remain anonymous and post them as The Commish.

We defined The Commish since then as follows:

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