Racket Business - Publisher's Notes for February 2025

Table of Contents

• USTA Section Comparison - Part 1

• Letters - In response to…

• RIP Bob Davis

• Things that make me go hmmm… (Pickletainment? Aust …

• Noteworthy (ITA, US Open, Wimbledon, RacquetX ‘25, …

• Updates(Doping, Corruption)

• Shout-Outs + One Funny Tweet

The long-promised update to our August 2021 article that stirred so many emotions is here.

In the August 2021 article USTA Sections - Executive Salaries - How Much is Too Much? You Decide” published in Tennis Club Business (TCB), the precursor to Racket Business, I wrote, “Many TCB readers will probably look at the below information and say, "Why are they doing this?" The answer is simple: Because nobody else is doing it. No one is holding the USTA's section feet to the fire. We showed it to a tennis parent and he said, "You empower the powerless." That is exactly what we're doing after one league player happened to look at his section's 990 filings and wrote to me, "They're looting our USTA section."

I have to reiterate that I am not a financial expert. However, I'm pretty sure I know how to read a 990 filing and trust that each section's accountant did it correctly. The filings for each section, except the ones for the Caribbean section, can be seen by clicking on the link 990.

This month, we are publishing eight USTA sections as Part 1 of our Performance Report: Northern California, Southern California, Pacific Northwest, Southwest, Texas, Hawaii Pacific, Intermountain, and Missouri Valley.

Caribbean - mainly Puerto Rico
The reason our list only includes 16 of the 17 USTA sections is that Puerto Rico is not (yet) a US state and thus they don't fall under IRS rule. That means there is no requirement for them to file a 990.

Navigating the numbers
We made some adjustments to make our findings more realistic. First, we decided not to look at the “Reserves” anymore because a small incident called COVID-19 wreaked havoc on some reserves. We also adjusted our thinking that a CEO/DE’s income should be no more than 3% of expenses to 5%, but that person should also not make less than $160,000 per year, including “other” income.

Revenue, Expenses, Profit/Loss: This section is self-explanatory. We examined overall expenses and divided them into subcategories. Since nonprofits are not required to make a profit, we decided not to emphasize losses too much but to mention them here.

IPE: The ratio of CEO/ED Income as Part of the Expenses. It should not be more than 5% in our opinion. After all, we think since these organizations are all non-profit, money should be spent on growing tennis and not on growing a person's wealth.

Executive Compensation: The sum of all compensation incl. all salaries, "other" benefits, pension plans, and payroll taxes for section staff earning over $100,000 annually. We are posting the total dollars as well as the ratio as a percentage of a section’s overall expenses.

Total Compensation: The sum of all compensation including all salaries, "other" benefits, pension plans, and payroll taxes for all section employees. COMP: We wanted to know how much of the total expenses is total compensation.

The following table is the overview with information about critical figures we looked at again.

Section by Section Details

In 2021, we examined the IRS 990 filings for the year 2019, at the time the only year available. This year, we were looking at the 2023 filings. The list was compiled in January of 2025.

The eight sections we examined in Part 1 are listed in this spreadsheet to make the newsletter less heavy. USTA Section Comparison 2023. Click on it to download it.

The spreadsheet lists each section on a separate tab. The General Notes tab includes our Star Ratings system. Every section starts out with 5 Stars.

Have fun reading it. For questions, just email me.

PTR Board Nominations

Rich,

PTR Board Nominations came out for the next term today from the Nominating committee. Here's what happened:

• The Nominating Committee consists of Lynne Rolley, Karl Hale, and Martin VanDaalen, all current Board Members.

• The Nominating Committee nominated Lynne Rolley, Karl Hale & Martin VanDaalen for another term, meaning their term was up so they nominated themselves again.

The Board or Nominating Committee did not open it up to the membership and when Lynne Rolley was asked if they were or should, Lynne Rolley said no. 

I do not have experience with the PTR by-laws. What I found suggests that what was done is legal, if the information on the Internet is correct and I understand it.  I will let you make that decision.  While it may be legal, I think it would be advisable to set up an independent Nominating Committee that nominates you. Independent nominating committees are usually handpicked, so there are no surprises. If that is standard operating procedure for the PTR to nominate yourself, then nominating yourself may be acceptable.

Over the years I have seen some questionable things happen with the election of officers for the USPTA, as well.

The Commish
Everywhere, USA
Pronouns: They/Them

Shout-out to Mitch Kutner (and Nate Gross) in my January article “Serving the Racket Sports Community…”

Hi Rich,
Thanks for the shoutout and recognition of me and POP Tennis per the above in the January issue of Racket Business. It’s amazing how much great content you cover in each issue!

Although POP reached all annual goals given to us by The USTA & Kurt Kamperman and we all had high hopes of extending into a long-term partnership with the USTA, Gordon Smith put a swift stop to that in 2018 when he reminded every Executive at the USTA with a stern email that they were TENNIS and should not waste focus, energy or resources helping or supporting other competing paddle/racquet sports. But fast forward a few years and POP now has a global partnership with Tennis Australia. That closed USTA door led to a great new door opening up. 

While I do appreciate your longtime support and respect for POP Tennis, I want to update a little of what you wrote since I can’t take any credit for creating the sport of POP. 

As the original Paddle Tennis, throwing in the towel has never been an option. On the contrary, since rebranding to POP a decade ago, Paddle Tennis has seen its largest growth in its 125-year history by far. POP Tennis aka Paddle Tennis was created in 1898 by Reverend Frank Peer Beal. Our sports creation led to Platform Tennis being created 30 years later and Platform directly influenced & led to the creation of Padel in Mexico in the late 1960’s. Althea Gibson played our Paddle Tennis on the streets of Harlem for 5 years as a child leading her directly into her iconic Tennis career. While Paddle Tennis always had a few hundred thousand scattered players in the US prior to 2015, it was very stagnant in growth in the US and never really thought big or had a plan to try to grow internationally. Then in 2015, a lifelong player Ken Lindner organized a bunch of players including me to rebrand traditional Paddle Tennis to POP Tennis as a way to inject some energy, differentiate our sport, and help us distance ourselves from decades of confusion with Padel and Platform Tennis, both of which were also commonly referred to as Paddle & Paddle Tennis. Ken Lindner really “created” POP Tennis as a rebrand with structure and an organized 501 c3 Association although again, the sport goes back well over a century. Those like me along with other Directors in the International POP Tennis Association, partners & ambassadors are now the ones who carry on the plans & visions of Ken, Reverend Beal(the real creator), and Murray Geller, the father of modern Paddle Tennis. The work got harder and the goals got bigger! Although we frequently get lost in the shadow of the US Pickleball explosion and with Padel’s incredible international growth & US momentum, we are definitely holding our own and growing both nationally and internationally albeit at a slower organic pace compared to those other 2 sports. But that’s ok! We are the next one and numbers-wise we are exactly where Pickleball was 8-10 years ago when it was growing under the radar, nobody took it seriously and everyone thought it was just a fad for a few small groups of retired senior citizens!!!

I also want to comment on Spec Tennis which is a version of POP. With all of the new Pickleball courts being built, Nate Gross was looking for a way to play POP aka Paddle Tennis on Pickleball courts but he felt some POP paddles were too powerful for the much smaller Pickle court. His interest in the idea came about from playing and watching POP in Venice Beach as he has sometimes stated in interviews. Although POP has 3 different ball options depending on the level of play (orange, green dot, and a traditional pinned tennis ball), Spec uses only the orange ball. Spec paddles are a little lighter weight and have less power than most POP paddles but are within legal approved range for POP and are very similar to some traditional POP paddles. So in essence, Spec is a small subset and very specific version of POP. Almost like Horse is a subset of or a game within basketball. Rules for both are almost identical except Spec tweaked their scoring to make it a bit different from traditional Tennis and POP scoring. But Nate has done an excellent job! Traditional POP/Paddle Tennis in its creation involves a few paddles, a softer slower tennis ball (or sometimes a rubber ball in the early 1900s), a low net, and hitting around with or without lines on a smaller court than tennis. That’s the purity of the sport. 

Best always, 

Mitch Kutner, President  
International POP Tennis Association 
https://linktr.ee/poptennis 

Tim’s article “Planning and noise issues throw doubts over padel's growth curve”

Hi Rich,
It’s a different culture today, with tennis players moving to pickleball or Padel. Back-in-the-day it used to be tennis players would take up golf at some point. Tennis and golf had a connection...

Tim pointed out issues with Padel at that club and I think that comes from the style of aggressive sport. That attracts the attitude of a player and emotions. Tennis has its style and a different temperament of player…tactics and strategy, etc.

We’ll see how these new popular sports stand the test-of-time...

Leo Estopare
[email protected]

Labor Market

Hi Rich,

Brookings, a left-leaning think tank, recently published an article titled “States are leading the effort to remove degree requirements from government jobs.”

This raises an interesting point. Should you eliminate degree requirements when the job market is tight? How does that apply to tennis?  During tight labor markets, is it appropriate to eliminate the need for certification to ensure that there are enough tennis instructors to teach everyone who wants to learn?  Essentially that is what was done in the boom following the Battle of the Sexes. That did not turn out well for tennis. In 2019 Embree was quoted as saying high school players were being used to coach in certain situations.  

It also raises the question, how much information should an applicant know before you can truly say they are certified? I am not looking for an answer. This is just one of those interesting, "What If...." questions that only smart people like your readers have the answers to.  

The Commish
Everywhere, USA
Pronouns: They/Them

Hawaii Conference and USPTA-RSPA Transition

Rich,

I think they went to Hawaii once and participation was down. It has been a while and there is no institutional knowledge.

It is my impression that most complaints about RSPA come from the older pros but the younger more vocal pros like the new RSPA. The older pros might have gone to Hawaii for one last hurrah.  I don't think that will happen. Can the younger pros afford it?  Also,  Hawaii is five hours behind the East Coast and four behind the Midwest.  

How many members were lost after the transition?  How many would they normally lose?  What were the demographics of those lost?  How is RSPA paying for the activities and staff in Hawaii?  Have they made enough from the new members to cover the additional activity and staff?  Is there growth pent-up demand from Feisal and Embree or can they sustain that level of new membership? Reminder: ‘Hurricane season in Hawaii runs from June to November, though the Aloha State sees the most hurricanes in July, August, and September.’ (via A.I.)

Lots of questions but no, I'm probably not going to renew my membership after 40 years. There's nothing in it for me. I only teach on a private court about 8 hours a week, so I don't need the liability coverage. My feeling is that the $325 yearly dues are more of a donation than an investment. The seminars I have watched haven't been that enlightening.

The Commish
Everywhere, USA
Pronouns: They/Them

ROBERT C. "BOB" DAVIS HAS PASSED AWAY - BLACK TENNIS HALL OF FAME WILL HONOR AND CELEBRATE HIS LIFE

Pickletainment?"

I wrote about the Celebrity Pickleball Bash in October last year. Remember, that’s the event February 15-16 at San Francisco’s Warfield Theatre where NBA and NFL Hall of Famers and others play Pickleball, and the organizer, Pivot, is hoping you would cough up between $37 and $548 per ticket per day or invest in VIP Experiences of up to $10,000 for a suite.

They are calling it “Pickletainment” now after adding interactive fan zones and live music. “It’s where pickleball meets pop culture, competition meets connection, and sports meet unforgettable entertainment.”

I’ll stick with my conclusion from October: “I have heard of Terrell Owens and Mario Lopez. Would I pay one dollar to see that Bash? Not in a million years. But that’s just me. I think the odds for this bash to happen are less than stellar.”

Looks like the event is happening after all. Good for them! Website.

Australian Open Animated?

Sports Business Journal reported Australian Open is expanding its video game style stream in push to attract different audience.

The article reads: The tournament is streaming real-time animated feeds on its YouTube channel that “mimic what’s happening in the three main stadiums.” Tennis players are represented by characters that “look like something out of a Wii game,” and the graphics “try to show the correct outfit colors or hats and bandanas the athletes are wearing” and reflect what is happening in the matches, with about a “one-point delay.”

At first, I thought WTF? Who wants to watch this when you can have the real thing without a one-point delay? Then I saw the numbers: According to Tennis Australia, the streams in the first four days of the event drew more than 950,000 views. The figure for the same time period in 2024 was about 140,000.

Holy Moly! This is what we have to do to attract younger people to tennis. My question: How many of those 950,000 will pick up a racket and play?

Intercollegiate Tennis Association

The ITA is involved in a fight for college tennis.  The following letter addresses some of the issues.  What a mess.
ITA Submits a Letter of Concern to Judge Claudia Wilken

Tennis.com

US Open adds a 15th day, moves to Sunday start in 2025

The US Open is expanding to 15 days this year as it shifts to a Sunday start for the first time in the Open era. Read more.

YARDBARKER

Wimbledon board member: 'Zero appetite' to expand to 15 days

While three of the four Grand Slam tennis events are operating with the belief that bigger is better in terms of scheduling, Wimbledon won't be adding a 15th day.

All England Lawn Tennis Club board member Tim Henman, a four-time Wimbledon semifinalist, said the grass-court major has "zero appetite" to begin on a Sunday ahead of the standard fortnight. Read more.

RacquetX 2025 (March 22-24, 2025)

Hello RacquetX Friends!

Ahh! We are less than 2 months away from opening the doors at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Time flies when you are having the most fun planning the biggest event for all racquet sports. :)

With the Australian Open wrapped up (congrats Madison & Jannik) the excitement for racquet sports is at an all-time high! Now, it’s time to keep the momentum going—RacquetX 2025 tickets are hot!

Join us for the ultimate racquet sports experience, where you’ll get hands-on with the latest products, innovations, and interactive activities, all in one place.

We can’t wait to see you in Miami!

Conga Sports invested in tennis balls recycling initiative

Sunset Hills Country Club donated over 1,000 used balls for recycling

Conga Sports is committed to striving for a sustainable future in racquet sports. We want to leave our world cleaner and more sustainable for future generations, so we have become a partner of Recycle Balls in West Virginia.

Thank you, Sunset Hills Country Club Director of Tennis, Paul Steele, for letting us pick up over 1,000 badly used tennis balls at your facility. Merrick had Front Desk duty this morning and helped us gather and box all those balls that were shipped to RecycleBalls the same day. A month earlier, we picked up tons of balls at Las Posas Country Club in Camarillo (Mark McCampbell), Burbank Tennis Center (Steve Starleaf), and North Hollywood High School (Eddie Avedisian).

At this time, used tennis ball pickup is limited to Southern California. Any club or teaching pro interested in being put on a pickup schedule, please contact us.

WTCA announced as an official PTCA Department

Following the announcement of its exclusive partnership with PTPA (Professional Tennis Players Association), the Professional Tennis Coaches Association (PTCA) is thrilled to announce a new and exciting cooperation with the Women’s Tennis Coaching Association (WTCA), which will now serve as an official department within PTCA, focusing on women's coaching development. The appointment of WTCA as an official PTCA department is a clear sign of PTCA's and PTPA's collective commitment to the furtherance of gender-specific coaching excellence and a more unified, stronger voice for women in tennis, both on and off the court.
Full Press Release

SHORTS…

…Ace Your Winter Fitness with OnCourt OffCourt's Latest Tips!
Everyday Wellness - Fitness Myths About Your Core
Mindfulness is a Game Changer On and Off the Court
What Makes a Perfect Pickleball Partner?
Pickleball Tutor Tips: 2-Player Poach Volley Drill

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…Meet the INTENNSE Advisory Board

DOPING

ITIA: Two tennis players provisionally suspended under Tennis Anti-Doping Programme
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) today confirms that two tennis players have been provisionally suspended under the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP). David Saye, a 20-year-old tennis player from the United States of America, has been issued with a mandatory provisional suspension, while Yash Chaurasia, a 23-year-old tennis player from India, has elected to take a voluntary provisional suspension.
Read more

BBC Sport: Pro bono legal aid for players facing doping allegation
Tennis players facing allegations of doping or corruption will be able to access pro bono legal support as part of a new scheme launched by the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA). The PTPA, established by Novak Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil in 2020 to increase player power in the sport, said it would ensure access to "world-class legal expertise regardless of a player's financial standing and personal resources". Read more.
 

CORRUPTION

ITIA: Six tennis players sanctioned for historic corruption offenses
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) confirms that six current and former tennis players have been sanctioned for breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP). 
 
The sanctions are linked to a criminal case heard in 2023 involving a match-fixing syndicate in Belgium. Collaboration between the ITIA and Belgian authorities led to a five-year custodial sentence for the leader of the syndicate, Grigor Sargsyan.
Read more.

Big Shout-Out to the Madison Keys for winning BIG at the Australian Open.
Others are celebrating her, too: The New York Times. Sports Illustrated.

Big Shout-Out to HEAD for the double blessing of having supplied racquets for both the Australian Open men’s champion and the finalist.

Big Shout-Out to Billie Jean King and Ilana Kloss for being recognized in the Sports Business Journal for having “no plans on slowing down.” (King and Kloss: More to be conquered)

Big Shout-Out to Nancy Hogshead, CEO of Champion Women for her great letter to NCAA Women Athletes who are in danger of losing their rights to equality guaranteed under Title IX.

One Funny Tweet
(From The Independent) Tennis legend Andy Murray shared a humorous tweet after emotionally announcing his retirement as his Olympic campaign finally came to an end.