The group in charge of tennis in the US is starting its first coaching program

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The U.S. Tennis Association announced the start of its first all-encompassing coaching program on Wednesday, a little more than a year after an outside review of the USTA's safeguarding system offered recommendations for how to better protect players from abuse such as sexual misconduct.

“At the end of the day, we have to create safe environments for all our players,” Craig Morris, the CEO of the new USTA Coaching initiative, said in a video interview with The Associated Press from Florida.

Morris said the USTA now can make sure that everyone who is certified is Safe Play approved, including completing a criminal background screening and being able to identify, respond to and prevent misconduct.

The USTA estimates there are currently 25,000 to 30,000 coaches in the United States, and the country’s official governing body for the sport would like to see the number rise to around 75,000 to 100,000.

That would include everyone from parents teaching their children to the sorts of professional coaches who will be working with athletes at the U.S. Open, the USTA's showcase event that begins on Aug. 24.

The effort is connected to the group's goal of having 35 million people playing the sport in the U.S. by 2035.

“The USTA’s never been in the coaching business. We’re probably the last major tennis federation in the world that doesn’t do this. And it’s our responsibility. … This is recruitment, marketing, benefits, services, education, certification. What’s the future generation of coaching going to look like? We have to start getting high school kids and college kids looking at this as a career," Morris said.

“This is fundamental for U.S. tennis. For the protection of this game, the USTA has to invest in protecting the delivery system of the sport,” he added. “And for the very first time in our history, we’re going to do that.”

In June 2024, a 62-page report presented to the USTA Board of Directors included 19 specific recommendations for how to “increase player safety.”

The report was made public less than two months after a tennis player was awarded $9 million in damages by a jury in federal court in Florida following her accusation that the USTA failed to protect her from a coach she said sexually abused her at one of its training centers when she was a teenager. The USTA also was a defendant in four other lawsuits related to sexual abuse of tennis players over the last two decades.

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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis