Return Serve: USTA Hires Harlan Stone As CMO Of Pro Tennis

Stone To Start Job March 10

The USTA has hired Major League Gaming (MLG) Properties President HARLAN STONE as its new CMO of Pro Tennis, giving him "responsibility for promoting the U.S. Open and the Olympus U.S. Open Series," according to Daniel Kaplan of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. Stone, who begins his new post on March 10, is the "first high-profile replacement for a string of top executives who have departed the USTA" since September. He replaces MICHELLE WILSON, who is joining the WWE next week. Talks between Stone and USTA Exec Dir GORDON SMITH began "just a few weeks ago, a search firm was not employed, and no other candidates were formally interviewed." The move came so quickly that Stone's boss with MLG "called his departure 'out of the blue.'" Sources said that Stone's contract "runs only through the end of the year, with the USTA keeping its options flexible for 2010." Kaplan notes Stone is leaving MLG "largely because of his passion for tennis" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 2/16 issue).