USTA CEO Michael Dowse on the tennis boom in 2020

"In the last few months, literally millions of people have discovered our sport and they're out playing tennis for the first time."

This week, the TENNIS.com Podcast is excited to bring in special guest, USTA CEO Mike Dowse. Dowse started his role at the USTA in January of last year, just in time for the craziest year in tennis history.

While it’s been a challenging year for everyone, tennis—particularly at the grassroots level—saw a boom in participation. Since tennis is naturally a socially distanced sport, three million new players were able to pick up a racquet in 2020. Overall, there was a 22 percent increase in participation with over 21 million players. 

As a former college player and the current leader of the USTA, Dowse has helped cultivate and support tennis at all levels and has been at the forefront of decisions made to help grow the game. 

He was thrown into the fire during the US Open when the USTA navigated uncharted territories by hosting a Grand Slam in New York City, the most recent epicenter of the pandemic. He shares what went into making the impossible happen in New York, and how he expects the 2021 US Open to look like later this year. 

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