DEATH BY MEDIOCRITY, THE USTA STANDARD.

By Javier Palenque

What is mediocrity in leadership?

Mediocre leaders never personally acknowledge their role or contribution to any mistake or failure. Selfish and Self-Serving. Mediocre leaders act out of self-interest and bring a sense of entitlement to their roles. Uncivil and mean. This is one proper definition of mediocre leadership. Try to understand this definition in the context of the state of tennis and the terrible leaders that the USTA promotes and empowers.

Here is a perfect example: if the sport is not growing and the data proves so, the intelligent thing to do is to acknowledge the state of the sport and recruit people who think of ways of solving the problem (new blood). The USTA board and leadership do the exact opposite, they conflate the information about the US Open, hide the real data, use data that is proven false about participation, hide their membership revenues, and hide data from their competitions to keep the status quo going. This is of course never accepting any role in the demise of the sport while keeping their jobs and the act they put up that they care for the sport when the reality is they care for their positions. This is called mediocre leadership.
Now think how many years you can sustain this charade. How many tennis generations can support such stupidity? Of course, not many, this is a great concern of mine as the leaders are simply incapable of reversing the trend and path, they put the sport on as the data proves.

Well, my dear fans and readers, this is exactly what the USTA does year in and year out. They self-preserve their incompetence and forbid any challenge to their power even though it costs the sport and the country dearly. This is a crime in my opinion that needs to be called out.

Below are a few characteristics of mediocre leaders that I urge you to pay attention to, as you read the descriptions, you will be able to relate them to your interactions with the USTA executives that say one thing, do another, and yet know the true state of their incompetence and reach. Doing so is even worse as they deceive you while knowing that the truth is the opposite of what they say. This is called premeditated fraud.