Tennis's tumultuous route to return-to-play | US Open World and what it will mean | The possibility of consolidation among tennis's multiple stakeholder groups.

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Episode 88 of the Leaders Sport Business Podcast features a conversation with USTA Professional Tennis CEO and newly named US Open Tournament Director Stacey Allaster (discussion starts at 6:19). The former WTA President has had one of the most difficult jobs in sport of late (in what is, admittedly, a crowded field), as she and her team at the USTA have battled to form a workable plan to go ahead with the US Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in its traditional slot in early September. Against a backdrop of multiple competing interests, huge financial concerns, and a public health situation that continues to rage hard around the world but especially in the US, a plan was approved just last week.

On the conversational agenda:

- The many barriers to a return-to-play plan and how to overcome them;

- The six key questions that needed to be answered in order to create 'US Open World';

- The three tiers of exposure and the special set-up that's set to cost an extra $8 million;

- The cracks in the crust of tennis's complicated stakeholder planet;

- The Adria Tour and the personal responsibility that athletes should have;

- The enhanced collaboration with other stakeholders in tennis and beyond, and the potential for consolidation.