VANTAGE POINT BY EUGENE L. SCOTT ( MARCH 1994 ) THE U.S.TENNIS ASSOCIATION IS A FAT TARGET

Written by: on 5th May 2014
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VANTAGE POINT BY EUGENE L. SCOTT ( MARCH 1994 ) THE U.S.TENNIS ASSOCIATION IS A FAT TARGET  |

Photo by Alejandro.

 

Editors Note:

Eugene L . Scott’s 20 Year Old Story Sounds All Too Familiar. Here we are in 2014 and this sounds like a song I’ve heard over and over. The most amazing thing here is how everyone of these “Vantage Points ” that we have republished of a Genes is still timeless brilliance. Trust us this isn’t easy transcribing these. Luckily we have them all. Luckily we know a true tennis nerd /Guardian of the game willing to type away in the wee hours .

Gene was a true visionary. I’m certain if he was alive today he would be trying to find peace in Russia via tennis. Don’t forget he helped end the Cold War by bringing tennis to the area. The Kremlin Cup.

 

 

The following was published in the March 24, 1994, edition of Tennis Week Magazine as a “Vantage Point” column and written by former Tennis Week founder and publisher Eugene Scott:

 

The U.S. Tennis Association is a fat target. With a 1994 budget of over $91 million and an estimated surplus of almost $23 million, the Association has become an octopus of pro-active projects across America. With so much going on in so many directions, the Association is bound to offend someone sometime.

For everyone selected to the Davis or Federation Cup Team, National Team or Dubler Cup Team, U.S. Open or Marketing Committee, a few deserving candidates must be left out. Leadership, of course, is making choices for the right reasons and not agonizing over public opinion or hurt feelings. The USTA just concluded its 113th annual meeting in Palm Beach, Fla., at the Breakers Hotel. A record 682 volunteers registered for 94 committee meetings over eight days. By way of comparison, in the early 1950’s, the annual meeting took less than half a day and total attendance was under 25 including a three-member staff, only one of whom was paid.

In 1967 the same meeting was held in Puerto Rico with only 40 making an appearance. Hotel rooms were $14 a night. This year, rooms cost over $200, an extravagance which is the subject of ongoing debate. On one side, there are those who believe healthy “perks” are the reward for years of faithful volunteer service.

Opposed are those who consider the satisfaction of helping the sport reward enough. The discussion is not apt to simmer down soon. Two presidential suites over a dozen tennis courts, 10 meeting rooms, a ballroom, temporary office space, almost 400 rooms and a climate warm enough to require a 15 sunblock are the minimum meeting requirements. The chances are slim that the location picked will ever be “down market.” Next year, for instance, the annual clambake will be held at La Quinta, in Palm Springs, California, and the year after, possibly, the Registry in Naples, Florida. A $50 savings per night in room costs might reduce meeting expenses by $75,000 or so, but the number is petty cash next to major capital expenses the USTA has obligated itself to for the foreseeable future. Even the nearly $10 million to secure a new headquarters in White Plains, New York, will seem like lagniappe compared to the $210 million committed to the U.S. Open stadium project. Both decisions will be dissected for the appropriateness of location, location, location as long as bricks and mortar are reminders of choices made and not made.Leadership will be either praised or pilloried when the sites are judged in a decade or so to be triumphs or disasters. That, of course, is the puzzle of big business. The stakes were so small 25 years ago that mistakes didn’t amount to much. When former USTA President Marvin Richmond was president of the Missouri Valley section in 1969, his budget was $2,000 and the office was in his law chambers.

Leadership will be either praised or pilloried when the sites are judged in a decade or so to be triumphs or disasters. That, of course, is the puzzle of big business. The stakes were so small 25 years ago that mistakes didn’t amount to much. When former USTA President Marvin Richmond was president of the Missouri Valley section in 1969, his budget was $2,000 and the office was in his law chambers.

Today, that figure has grown to $850,000 annually, forecasts 3,000 square feet of office space and 12 paid staff by 1995. With high risks, on the other hand, come high rewards. This annual meeting seemed particularly full of good news. The new USTA Player Development Center opened at the Lipton Stadium on Key Biscayne, Florida and it is a marvel of high-tech play-things. Moreover, the staff is finally getting national recognition as cutting-edge sports scientists. Its recently commissioned study on Burnout is believed to be the only one of its kind undertaken in this country. Next year’s topic will be the Biomechanics of Strokes, a minefield of anxiety for some teaching professionals who are afraid science might expose their techniques as inefficient or ineffective, or both.

Even the Darth Vader of bookkeepers will be pleased at the free rental deal negotiated for the USTA space at Lipton. The Player Development and Sport Science Committees overlap in obvious categories. In other areas, their objectives should be separated. Sport Science would be the research sector of R & D at a Fortune 500 Company. Player Development would be the D part and receives the lion’s share of a $7 million annual budget. Player Development is vulnerable to sharpshooting because the product marketed is star players, and, without eye-catching tournament results, the perception is the program is not working. No other committee is subject to such an uncompromising standard of success. Todd Martin and Lindsay Davenport are the twin peaks of player development to date, and their contradictory performances at the Lipton (Martin lost in the first round, Davenport upset Sabatini) show that results are like commodities in the marketplace.

“What have you done for me lately” is as harsh a judgment for Martin as it is for aspirin. The mission of Sport Science, however, is the purest of any USTA committee. There are no wins and losses to measure, no membership goals to meet and no participantlevels to criticize. Just the sweet science of science itself. This ethereal calling can be contrasted with the mission of the Davis Cup chairman whose assignment is the most seductive in the USTA. Front-row seats to the matches, rubbing tennis elbows with top players and travel to exotic sites-all very glamorous.

Until the team loses. Then the chairman and captain are accountable although, just like the real world, it doesn’t always work out that way.

USTA committees traditionally are a blend of capable workers and well-meaning dabblers. Considering that meetings throughout the year are rare and that the chairmen do the heavy lifting, it is a marvel that so much work does get pumped out. Overall results are impressive. In addition, the expertise level is rising across the board (pun not intended) though there are vestiges of past fumbling that must discourage the more able volunteers. The most unglamorous report given at the Breakers was the astute handiwork of Charles B. Morris, Jr., chairman of the Governance and Planning Committee. It has been his job over the past two years to streamline the USTA’s Constitution and Bylaws in preparation for the 21st Century. His recommendations were clear, expeditious and rather bold. Essential ingredients included expanding the Board by four, eliminating regional vice presidents, combining the office of secretary and treasurer and eliminating the distinction between the first and second vice president.

Moreover, the Nominating Committee will be expanded to 11 members (against the unanimous vote of the existing committee to remain at nine). The new order was accepted and will take effect January 1, 1995, which means that President Bumpy Frazer will have held the reins for the shortest helm since Walter Elcock resigned in 1974 after only 18 months in office to become ITF president.

One intent of the changes was to shake up the alleged old-boy network that predictably promoted officers from within the ranks. The four additional Board slots mean directors outside the sectional pool can be considered. Imagine the variety possible; a player (Pam Shriver or Tom Gorman); a businessman within the industry (Charlie Peifer, president of Prince, Phil Knight, CEO of Nike, or Paul Fireman, chairman of Reebok); a talented USTA committeeman whose skills shouldn’t have to be parked for 10years (like Steve Potts, a presidential appointee to the Executive Committee), and a totally independent executive with no conflicts and no baggage (like Michael Ainslie, former president of Sotheby’s). This year’s nominating committee has the acutest challenge (and opportunity) in its existence to tinker with tradition.

The standby wing shot, “After all is said and done, much is said and little is done,” can no longer be aimed at the USTA whose programs care for players from their first volley to their last. The momentum of this multi-million dollar operation is undeniable. Even the petty failings in Palm Beach are mowed down by the weight of accomplishments, but several boo boos are mentionable, just the same, for their quirkiness.

Wilson was told that it couldn’t give red Wilson bags to attendees when they checked in. Too commercial. Bags could only be given away when attendees departed. Wilson’s answer? To ship the bags back to the company warehouse unopened. Sound business decision by Wilson.

• This writer received a full-page announcement about the bonanza cheap rate ($26 per day) at Budget-Rent-A-Car arranged especially for USTA volunteers at the meeting. Only I lost my full-page announcement. Armed with no reservations and no USTA identification, I simply asked what the going rate was. $25 per day. Plus 5% off if you had an AAA card. I had the feeling another 5% would be peeled off if I produced a valid bowler’s card.

• Neither player representative to the Executive Committee Jay Berger nor Elise Burgin made an appearance. This slot’s relevance wavers between window dressing and salad dressing.

• This space was also puzzled at the apparent disinterest in the U.S. Open project. A meeting to discuss the most daring financial commitment in the Association’s history was scheduled to last but an hour. Even that was too generous. The meeting started 10 minutes late, finished 15 minutes early and was attended by 20 people. A little over half an hour to discuss the plan and answer several lukewarm questions! Maybe the questioners were afraid their box tickets wouldn’t be renewed.

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