IT:
When you first started volunteering, did you have the goal of being
USTA president
JOHNSON:
Absolutely not. I was pursuing my career with Price Watherhouse,
I heard they needed a treasurer, and after a few years got more
involved and became SCTA president. Then one thing led to another.
IT:
Was there a sense of satisfaction getting elected USTA President.
JOHNSON:
A great deal of satisfaction, especially under the circumstances
when it was a contested election. Once you become first Vice President,
you just assume you are going to be the president. I didn’t
expect [former president] Alan Schwartz would try to re-run until
his term was under way. But we came to an understanding and are
getting along fine now.
IT:
Did you feel well prepared?
JOHNSON:
Yes, but what’s daunting is despite many years trying to grow
the game, we haven’t moved the participation dial much. I’m
anxious to take a crack at that and try some new things.
IT:
So much has already been tried. Is there really anything new to
be attempted?
JOHNSON:
We need to revitalize tennis in the public parks. While we’ve
done a little of that in the past, it’s been pretty modest.
We have an Adopt a Court program with $250,000 in our budget and
it might affect 50 parks, but there are thousands of parks and a
great need to refurbish them. Last year, we approved 50 grants with
400 applying. We need to effect 1,000 courts. We have to totally
change our tune at all levels and advocate for tennis in the parks
and recs. Plus, we have to get someone in there with programs. There
are so many parks where tennis used to be vibrant and isn’t
anymore. The scary thing is that we could lose a lot of courts if
we don’t get on the ball.
IT:
You were president of the SCTA, which might have more active players
per section than anywhere else, yet its membership numbers aren’t
that high. National membership continues to grow, but with more
than 10 million players out there, shouldn’t the USTA (which
has 650,000 members) be aiming for a million members?
JOHNSON:
We’re primarily interested in what’s good for tennis
, but it would be nice to have more members. It’s astounding
to me that we’ve never spent any marketing money promoting
USA leagues. We will for the first time this year. That will increase
our membership. Leagues have grown consistently year to year, but
we can have a much bigger growth rate. Half our members play leagues.
Nationally, I’d like to see us get to a million, but it won’t
happen in a couple of years. Bud I’d sure like to see 5-10
percent growth per year.
IT:
You’ve been spending a lot of time on Player Development.
The U.S. appears in decent shape with our male juniors, but the
girls aren’t performing as well.
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JOHNSON:I
saw Jessica Kirkland win the Orange Bowl and US Open junior. She
shows some promise. We have some good girls, but we’re stronger
in the boys. There are so many strong girls coming up internationally,
that it’s daunting. I formed a High Performance Committee,
because there are many critics out there making accusations about
what we should and shouldn’t be doing. I thought Billie
Jean King would be the ideal person, so I recruited her. And if
she takes something on, she goes whole hog. I was also delighted
that Jack Kramer and Michael Chang offered to help.
IT:
You’ve been tapping into your California roots. A number
of Californians feel that Player Development should be centered
here because most of our top players over the past 15 years (Sampras,
Chang, the Williamses, Davenport) have SoCal roots. The High Performance
Training Center at Carson seems to be going well and your director,
Eliot Teltscher, is also a West Coach guy.
JOHNSON:
I was involved with Eliot’s selection. I like his thinking.
He knows competition is important to advance players. I’ve
been to the center in Key Biscayne and I didn’t see that
much activity. Eliot felt we needed a more active center and Carson
seems to be working well.
IT:
I saw you at the first round Fed Cup tie in Slovenia when the
U.S. had one of our best players in Venus and we seemed like the
team to beat. Then in the next round, none of top four played
and we lost to Austria. Is it a lost cause to get the top players
to compete in Fed Cup?
JOHNSON:
Losing to Austria was so disappointing. But I don’t feel
Fed Cup is a lost cause. I want to elevate the stature of both
the Davis and Fed Cups. I know [captain] Zina Garrison has been
working hard on recruiting players.
IT:
You were also in Seville for the Davis Cup final, which could
be seen as an acceptable loss given that it was an away tie on
clay. But is this the year when the US should win the Cup? Is
it wrong for US fans to expect the team to win once every five
or 10 years?
JOHNSON:
We have a great chance and a lot of talent and I love the spirit
of our guys. But Croatia will be tougher than people realize.
I saw them beat us in Croatia. But it’s not unfair [to expect
a title] and we have a very good shot at accomplishing that this
year.
IT:
The USTA NorCal has had four presidents in the last year. It’s
very active, but contentious.
JOHNSON:
I have a great affection for NorCal. There’s no other section
like it. It has very talented people and has been a successful
section.
IT:
Is it okay for each section to have a different electoral procedure?
Should it be uniform nationally?
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JOHNSON:
I’m comfortable with sectional autonomy, but I have introduced
the topic of sectional performance. The national body has been
afraid of talking about it. We should consider some techniques
to improve performance. I intend to hold up to the light some
statistical information on how sections are doing. Maybe even
try ranking 1-17. No one likes to be criticized, but we have to
do it. If someone is doing a real poor job, it shouldn’t
escape notice. Our strategic planning committee will be looking
into it this year. People were receptive to the idea, but also
apprehensive. I was very pleased with the support of NorCal on
it.
IT:
Are you comfortable with the little turnover that the SCTA board
has had? Would you like to see more new faces come in or are the
current people doing so well that no new blood is needed?
JOHNSON:
I hesitate to say any critical of my own section and think [President]
Bill Rombeau is a terrific person, but they could use more new
blood. It’s healthy to bring new people with new ideas.
Southern Cal has some outstanding people on board and it’s
important there to get good geographic coverage. I applaud guys
like [Bakersfield’s Hank] Pfister and the men and women
from San Diego who drive long distances to come to meetings.
IT:
Any other big goals?
JOHNSON:
There’s been a huge increase in the Hispanic population,
especially in the Southwest and West, and you hear talk of public
courts in Hispanic areas not being used. We’ve been pushing
diversity and we’ve had a lot of success with young black
athletes, Asian-Americans play a lot of tennis, but we’re
not having success with Hispanics. It’s critical we get
that population to participate . I’ve formed a special task
force on Hispanic participation and we’re going to try to
get them some financial support and set up some pilot programs.
IT:
In South America, tennis has deep roots, but in Central America
and Mexico, where most Californian Hispanics come from, only the
elite rea;;y play — if at all. It’s a totally new
sport to many Latino kids who are weaned on soccer.
JOHNSON:
It’s a hard sell, that’s for sure.
IT:
What was the highlight of your playing career?
JOHNSON:
My biggest moment was winning the National Hardcourts at the Peninsula
Tennis Club. I loved that atmosphere. The families put us up in
these fantastic homes in Hillsborough. For a little kid from a
modest family in San Diego, it was quite a thrill.
IT:
Which player thrills you to watch?
JOHNSON:
I love to watch Agassi, but Federer is incredible, too. l
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