Patrick McEnroe's response to Sean Hannity's analysis on USTA

Dear Sean,
 
As head of the USTA Player Development program, I wanted to share some quick thoughts regarding your post on the changes implemented by the USTA’s Junior Competition Committee.  We are changing the structure, and like many other areas in junior tennis – whether 10 & Under Tennis – or in our approach to competitive tennis – the creation of three national tennis centers with supporting regional centers implementing a consistent coaching philosophy – we are changing for the better.

The primary drivers for change were to address three major concerns:
  1. The rising costs of competing at the national level for juniors and their families;
  2. The desire to reduce the amount of time juniors would be absent from school, and;
  3. The creation of a logical progression of earned advancement from local play to sectionals to nationals to ensure that the best players move on to nationals (the best have earned the right to play) – not the players from families with more economic flexibility.
The junior competition structure is one piece of the overall puzzle that needed to be improved and that is what the USTA has done.

Please click here for a point by point response to your posted letter.  The response was prepared by Timothy Russell, the chair of the USTA’s National Junior Competition Committee.  I am sure you will find this response informative and clear up the misconceptions you have regarding this structural change.
 
Patrick McEnroe
General Manager, USTA Player Deveolpment
 
 

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