Dec 11, 2024, 09:01 AM ET
Stacey Allaster, the United States Tennis Association’s chief executive of professional tennis and the tournament director for the US Open, will step away from both roles after the 2025 US Open, the organization announced Wednesday.
Allaster, the first woman to hold either title in the USTA’s history, referred to the move as an “evolution” instead of retirement, a nod to 23-time major champion Serena Williams.
“You get to this age and wonder, ‘What’s it all about?’ I have my health, so the big question is ‘when is enough enough?'” Allaster, 61, told ESPN on Tuesday. “After 38 years of working in professional tennis, my cup is overflowing with gratitude and accomplishments and having had an opportunity to give back to the sport that has given me everything.”
Allaster, who informed her team of her impending departure Tuesday while wearing a “Time to start living” T-shirt, will remain an adviser for the USTA and will help in the hiring process for her replacement, which the organization said will begin after the 2025 US Open.
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She said she will join the board of trustees for the Women’s Sports Foundation, a nonprofit started by Billie Jean King, and the board for the Canadian Olympic Committee.
Allaster, who previously was the CEO and chairman of the WTA and began her career at Tennis Canada, said she started thinking about her next chapter following the stress of the 2020 US Open, which was the first large-scale global sporting event to take place during the COVID-19 pandemic. But she remained with the organization and has since helped lead the US Open to record crowd numbers and awarding the highest amount of prize money in tennis history.
Lew Sherr, the USTA CEO and executive director, thanked Allaster for the “countless ways she has helped shape American and global tennis” in a statement.
“Under her leadership, we’ve achieved so much together, including reaching the remarkable milestone of one million fans at the US Open — a vision she helped turn into a reality [in 2024],” Sherr said. “She’s built an amazing team and been a tireless advocate for gender equality, leaving a legacy that will continue to inspire future generations in our sport.”
Considered a trailblazer for women in sports and credited for helping secure equal prize money for women at Wimbledon and the French Open while at the WTA, Allaster called being the first woman in both of her roles at the USTA “an incredible privilege, a responsibility and an inspiration” and said it kept her motivated on even the toughest of days.
“I’ve carried that responsibility on this 5-foot-1½-inch frame and tried to demonstrate with confidence that a working professional mom can successfully run and lead the No. 1 professional sport for women worldwide and also lead the largest annual sporting event in the world,” Allaster told ESPN.
Allaster was named Companion of the Order of Canada, her native country’s highest civilian honor, for her work in gender equality in 2022, among a slew of other high-profile awards and distinctions over the course of her career.
