Broke USTA is in a pickle.

By Javier Palenque

A pickle means in a difficult situation or a quandary. The origin of the phrase in a pickle seems to stem from two different places. First, there is the sixteenth-century Dutch phrase in de pekel zitten which translates as sitting in the pickle, meaning to be drunk. Second, there is the Shakespeare play The Tempest, in which Alonso asks “How camest thou in this pickle?” and Trinculo answers “I have been in such a pickle since I saw you last that, I fear me, will never out of my bones…” In this case, the phrase a pickle also refers to being drunk, in time it came to mean to be in a difficult situation or a quandary. With USTA’s CEO resigning only after two years, the USTA board and leadership are well “In a pickle”.

Much can be said about the short tenure of Mr. Dowse, but I have my theories and the problem is deadly serious. USTA has only one path to survival, please note I am saying survival not growing. That is changing the organization that has already tried everything and failed at everything the old boys suggest.

Its business model shelf life has expired long ago. The problem is that leadership refuses to understand this. Therefore, they still think they can solve the problem not realizing that the entertainment part of the sport is mature and has been declining for a long time and only heading south to a point of no…