Special from
Zoo Tennis
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When the United States Tennis Association announced an organizational restructuring last fall that would combine Player Development, Pro Circuit, Team Events, Collegiate and Junior Competition, it was accompanied by the news that General Manager of Player Development Martin Blackman would be leaving the organization after serving in that role since the spring of 2015.
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Blackman, 54, had previously served as Senior Director of Talent Identification and Development at the USTA from 2009 to 2011, working closely with former USTA Director of Coaching Jose Higueras before leaving to start his own academy in Florida.
When Blackman returned to the USTA, replacing Patrick McEnroe as head of Player Development, he and Higueras continued to shape the Team USA concept they had introduced in 2009, building on that foundation for nearly a decade. When Blackman finished his tenure at the USTA last month, the United States was coming off a year with eight men and 18 women in the ATP and WTA Top 100s, two US Open singles finalists, and three of the four International Tennis Federation junior team titles.
I recently spoke to Blackman about his future, his proudest moments and biggest disappointments at the USTA, his reaction to the March email that roiled US tennis and the skills the new head of tennis at the USTA will need.
CL: What led to the creation of the Team USA concept in 2009?
MB: The first couple of conversations I had with Patrick (McEnroe) and Jose (Higueras) were always coming back to the same point: that the US is too big to have a centralized structure for player development. We have to figure out how we can partner with the private sector, with our sections. Fortunately we had this foundation, which was the philosophy that Jose brought to player development, his principals of teaching, training and coaching the game.