Michael Dowse to step down as USTA CEO in March

USTA CEO and Executive Director Michael Dowse will step down from his post effective next March. Dowse was named USTA CEO and Executive Director in October of 2019 after six years as president of Wilson Sporting Goods Co., and assumed his position on Jan. 1, 2020.

During his tenure, Dowse not only led the USTA through a major restructuring and implementation of a new strategic plan that strengthened its financial outlook and focuses on its mission to promote tennis at all levels in the U.S., but through the two-plus years of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which the US Open was preserved and interest and participation in tennis dramatically rebounded.

“The USTA is now in a strong position for the future,” said Dowse, “and I am confident I will be leaving it in good hands and well-positioned for success. I want to thank our Board, the USTA staff, our many volunteers, and the wide community of people who love and play tennis, for making possible the success we have had. Working together, we demonstrated that tennis is the model sport, not only for safe and fun recreation during a pandemic, but also for a lifetime.”

Dowse noted the success the game has experienced “at the highest level of the sport—the US Open—as well as at every park and school where record numbers of Americans are now participating, with over four million new players just in the last two years.”