Executive Director of USTA Resigns

New United States Tennis Assn. President Alan Schwartz has been in office for only six days and already he’s dealing with major tumult, brought about by twin resignations in the front office Monday.

Rick Ferman, the association’s executive director and chief operating officer for nearly seven years, quit but will stay on until a replacement is found. Nick Saviano, who has been with the USTA since 1988, most recently as director of USA Tennis Coaching Education, the high-performance program, also resigned.

Schwartz was a supporter of Ferman but momentum apparently had been building toward a change in leadership. The definitive sign came across to Ferman in the findings of a blue-ribbon commission, which will be released later this week at a meeting in Dallas. The commission, authorized by Schwartz, was formed shortly after the U.S. Open, when Schwartz was nominated as president, to study Ferman’s position and others.

“I made a commitment to Alan Schwartz, back after the U.S. Open, that if there came a time when I felt it was better for his agenda that I should move on, I would do that,” Ferman said Monday. “I knew that the blue-ribbon commission was going to look for ways to unify the organization.”

Schwartz praised Ferman’s contributions and said a search committee would be appointed during the meetings in Dallas.

“I don’t think we’re in need of major change,” Schwartz said. “But it’s more than fine tuning.”

The announcement of Saviano’s departure was made in the aftermath of several appointments in the high-performance program last week.

“I felt it was a good time,” he said. “It’s not something that came all of a sudden. It’s almost like looking for another mountain to climb.”