More than a dozen people from the USTA crowded into a small room to celebrate just moments after the U.S. Open Tennis Championships won Sports Event of the Year honors at the Sports Business Awards. It was one of the biggest groups at the Marriott Marquis, with a photographer struggling to fit them all in a picture. But judging by the cheering and laughing, it was also one of the happiest. “Shocking,” said USTA CEO & Exec Dir Gordon Smith, who admitted he did not have a speech prepared for the category. “It took us five years to get here,” he said. Though it was indeed a group victory, the $600M plan to rebuild the National Tennis Center and rebrand the event was spearheaded by Smith. All that work culminated last September with a U.S. Open that had record attendance, ticket and merchandise sales, and launched women’s champion Naomi Osaka to superstardom. “We put on our Super Bowl every day for 14 days,” said Smith, who plans to retire at year’s end. “To be recognized by our peers, what could be better than that?” So how did the sizable USTA contingent plan to celebrate? “Ask us tomorrow,” said Smith.
