Tennis

Canadian Stacey Allaster named U.S. Open's 1st female tournament director

Stacey Allaster is the U.S. Open's new tournament director, the first woman to hold that job at the American Grand Slam tennis tournament.

Former CEO of WTA has pushed for changes such as serve and warm-up clocks

Stacey Allaster, seen above in 2017, was named the first female tournament director in U.S. Open history on Wednesday. (Michael Noble Jr./The Associated Press)

Stacey Allaster is the U.S. Open's new tournament director, the first woman to hold that job at the American Grand Slam tennis tournament.

Allaster, born in Windsor, Ont., and raised in Welland, Ont., is a former CEO of the WTA women's tour and has worked at the U.S. Tennis Association since 2016, pushing for changes such as the serve clock and warmup clock and lobbying for coaching to be allowed during matches.

She will stay on as the USTA's chief executive of professional tennis, the association said Wednesday.

This is a pivotal time for the group that oversees tennis in the United States.

The USTA announced Monday that it had eliminated 110 positions from its national staff and is expected to decide as soon as next week whether to hold its marquee event amid the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. Open's main draw is scheduled to begin Aug. 31.

Allaster is replacing David Brewer, who joined the USTA in 1997 and became the Open's tournament director in 2012. The USTA said last year that Brewer would be stepping down after the 2019 Open.

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