USTA Launches Comprehensive Coach Program to Protect Players
The United States Tennis Association (USTA) announced on Wednesday the launch of its first comprehensive training program. This initiative comes just over a year after an external review of the USTA’s protection system, which offered recommendations to improve the protection of players against abuse, such as sexual misconduct.Morris explained that the USTA will now ensure that all certified coaches are Safe Play approved. This includes criminal background checks and the ability to identify, respond to, and prevent inappropriate conduct. The USTA estimates that there are currently between 25,000 and 30,000 coaches in the United States. The organization seeks to increase this number to between 75,000 and 100,000. This group includes everything from parents who teach their children to professional coaches who work with athletes at the US Open, the USTA’s most important event, which begins on August 24. This effort is linked to the USTA’s goal of having 35 million people playing tennis in the United States by 2035.“At the end of the day, we have to create safe environments for all our players,” said Craig Morris, CEO of the new USTA training initiative, in a video interview from Florida.
Craig Morris, CEO of the new USTA training initiative
“USTA has never been in the coaching business. We are probably the last major tennis federation in the world that doesn’t do it. And it’s our responsibility… This is recruitment, marketing, benefits, services, education, certification. How will the future generation of coaches be? We have to start making high school and college students see this as a career,” said Morris.
Craig Morris, CEO of USTA’s new coaching initiative
In June 2024, a 62-page report presented to the USTA board of directors included 19 specific recommendations to “increase player safety”. The report was made public less than two months after a jury in a Florida federal court awarded a tennis player $9 million in damages. This was due to her accusation that the USTA did not protect her from a coach who, she said, sexually abused her at one of its training centers when she was a teenager. The USTA was also sued in four other lawsuits related to the sexual abuse of tennis players in the last two decades.“This is fundamental for tennis in the United States. For the protection of this sport, the USTA has to invest in the protection of the sport’s delivery system,” he added. “And for the first time in our history, we are going to do it.”
Craig Morris, CEO of the new USTA training initiative
