Category: Tennis

Tennis — SportsTravel — News, Insight and Analysis for the Sports-Event Industry

1601-Steve-Simon
Steve Simon

Steve Simon

Steve Simon

After 27 years with the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, Steve Simon wasn’t expecting to get the call he got late last year. But when Stacey Allaster stepped down as CEO of the WTA, the board of the professional women’s tennis tour had only one candidate in mind. Simon had helped grow the Indian Wells event into the largest tennis tournament in the world outside the Grand Slams. A college tennis player at Long Beach State, Simon joined the event in a sales role in 1989 and in 2004 became tournament director and COO. Now he will be in charge of overseeing a star-filled tour with a lengthy calendar that has caused many top players to wear down with injuries as the season progresses. In this interview with SportsTravel’s Jason Gewirtz, Simon discusses his plans for the schedule, the WTA’s future and how he once wrote his way into Wimbledon.

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Leven, President and Chief Operating Officer of Las Vegas Sands, poses for a portrait during the 2010 Reuters Travel and Leisure Summit in New York
Pat O’Brien
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Pat O’Brien

Pat O’Brien

Pat O’Brien was in the middle of some of the biggest sports stories of the 1980s and ‘90s. He served as a regular NFL voice on CBS and covered events that regularly included the NCAA Final Four and the U.S. Open, and later several winter and summer Olympics. His run on CBS Sports lasted from 1981 to 1997. But he became even more well known after making the leap into entertainment reporting, helping to launch “Access Hollywood” until eventually becoming a story himself after an explicit voice mail he had left was leaked to the press. Now recovering from his own addiction to alcohol, he has written “I’ll Be Right Back After This,” a memoir chronicling his problems and

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Leven, President and Chief Operating Officer of Las Vegas Sands, poses for a portrait during the 2010 Reuters Travel and Leisure Summit in New York
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Jim Baugh

Jim Baugh

In his lengthy career in the sports industry, Jim Baugh has overseen some significant campaigns. While he was vice-president of sales and marketing for Prince from 1977–1983, he helped launch and market the first oversized tennis racket. As racquet sports general manager and later president at Wilson Sporting Goods from 1987–2003, he oversaw a $1 billion company with a global marketing reach. His work in tennis later led him to become president of the Tennis Industry Association and a USTA board member. Now a sports-industry consultant, his latest project is as president and CEO of PHIT America, which is pushing passage of the Personal Health Investment Today

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Leven, President and Chief Operating Officer of Las Vegas Sands, poses for a portrait during the 2010 Reuters Travel and Leisure Summit in New York
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Todd Martin

Todd Martin

In his professional playing career, Todd Martin achieved considerable success. His career ranking peaked at No. 4, and he was a finalist at the 1994 Australian Open and 1999 U.S. Open. He also served as president of the ATP Players Council for eight of the 14 years he played professionally. Martin later went on to coach and is serving his second term on the USTA Board of Directors. Earlier this year, he accepted a position as CEO of the International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum in Newport, Rhode Island, and is preparing to take over for long-time director Mark Stenning, who will leave the post in September. In his new role, Martin will also serve as director

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