Pete Sampras will join officials from the USTA, the TIA
and the USPTA at the White House today to commemorate USA
Tennis Month. Sampras and USTA board member Pam Shriver will
help promote the beginning of the USA Tennis Free For All
events which will be staged in more than 165 markets and
4,000 sites across the country beginning Saturday, the first
National Tennis Day. USA Tennis Month is the centerpiece of
the USA Tennis "Plan for Growth," a five-year, $50M
initiative to increase tennis participation in the U.S. The
plan's goal is to attract 800,000 new players to the sport
and to increase the number of frequent players by one million
by the end of the year 2002 (USTA).
PROUD TO BE YOUR BUD: In Boston, Bud Collins noted the
events, and wrote that the USTA seems to be more aware of the
youth market than in the past. Collins: "[I]t's the physical
and psychic welfare of kids that the USTA seems to be taking
seriously after a long period of indifference. Too many USTA
presidents have been too concerned about name Americans at
the upper reaches of the game instead of pushing the
healthful, obviously beneficial, fun aspects to Everykid,
Everyparent, Everyhacker" (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/7).
