United States Tennis Association
The United States Tennis Association ( USTA ) is the national tennis federation of the United States. He is with about 8,000 clubs and a total of approximately 770,000 members of one of the largest national tennis federations in the world. Its creation in 1881 makes it beyond the oldest national tennis federation.
History
1880, the first American Tennis Championships was under the direction of EH Outerbridge, the manager of the Staten Iceland Cricket Club and a brother of Mary Outerbridge, aligned on Staten Iceland in New York. After it had come during the tournament to dispute over the counting method, the weight of the ball and the net height, the establishment of a national association was asked who was to establish uniform rules. On the initiative of EH Outerbridge, James Dwight and Clarence Clark, chairman of the All Philadelphia Lawn Tennis Committee, was on 21 May 1881, Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York by 36 representatives of 19 clubs the United States National Lawn Tennis Association was founded. At the inaugural meeting it was decided to accept the rules of the All England Club and hold annual championships. A month later, the Association awarded the first orientation of the championships to Newport in Rhode Iceland, the start date has been set for 31 August of the same year.
1913 in founding the International Tennis Federation in Geneva, the American Association refused even a candidate, as the ITF a system of three World Championships, exclusively in European venues - the World Championships on hard court, the Indoor World Championships and the World Championships on grass ( Wimbledon Championships ) - established and thus degraded the U.S. Championships to a second-rate tournament. After the ITF However, ten years later, this system rejected and it is agreed that came in, the U.S. Championships as one of the four most important tournaments in the world (now the Grand Slam tournaments ) recognize, joined the federation in 1923 at the ITF. In 1920 removed to the term "national " from the proper name, in 1975 we cut down a few years after the start of the Open Era and the " Lawn " out.
Organization, tasks and financing
The USTA is divided into 17 geographical sections. Out it is a 14-member Board of Directors with Dave Haggerty as a current executive officer and president.
In addition to promoting tennis as a recreational sport ( " Community Tennis " ), the USTA held a total of 94 tournaments in the U.S., most of which belong to the Challenger, Satellite or futures tour. In addition, it will host the U.S. Open and is the owner of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Their duties beyond includes the selection of U.S. teams for the Davis Cup, Fed Cup, Olympic and Paralympic Games. Finally, it operates several programs to support promising young players.
The USTA is funded from the sale of television broadcasting rights, sponsorship, ticket sales, merchandising and membership fees. The bulk of the revenue generated thereby in conjunction with the U.S. Open.
Sources and links
- Www.usta.com ( official website )
- Heiner Gillmeister: Cultural history of tennis. Willhelm Fink Verlag, Munich, 1990. ISBN 3-7705-2618- X, pp. 259 ff
- John Parsons et al.: The Tennis Book. Carlton Books, London, 2010. ISBN 978-1-78097-012-7, p 41