The Ball's in Her Court: An Interview with USTA GC Andrea Hirsch

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September 5, 2008 1:17 PM

The Ball's in Her Court: An Interview with USTA GC Andrea Hirsch

Posted by Zach Lowe

Andrea Hirsch has been general counsel for the United States Tennis Association for a little more than two years and has already dealt with a slew of thorny legal issues, including negotiations over the naming of the new USTA tennis center in New York, the ramifications of a messy gambling scandal in international tennis, and questions of diversity among chair umpires. The Am Law Daily talked to Hirsch, previously GC at the DVD marketer Columbia House, about her new gig, her own tennis skills, and whether she's managed to catch any of the Open action so far.

How crazy are these two weeks for you?
It's unbelievably busy. What people don't realize is that, in addition to the U.S. Open, we've got our semiannual meeting at the Grand Hyatt New York, which involves over 1,000 volunteers.

What goes on at the meeting?
It deals with the other side of our work--growing the sport of tennis. We're having a pretty good year, with Americans doing well at the U.S. Open; but the last few years, we haven't produced a lot of champions [ed note: No American man has won any Grand Slam event since 2003]. The current juniors may not be the ones to take us to the next level. So how do you really motivate the eight- to 12-year-olds to take up the game? How do you appeal to the younger kids?

How does that mission involve legal work?
Take our new program for young kids, Quickstart. It's an entirely different game--the courts are shrunk to about one-quarter of their normal size, the balls don't bounce as high, and the kids get bigger rackets. Well, we have to try and strike agreements with parks departments and schools to put those smaller boundaries down on their courts. And some people may think they have a patent on the smaller courts or the less bouncy balls. As far as we're concerned, nobody does, but we have to check to make sure what we're doing is appropriate and legal.

Was this kind of work a natural fit for you? Have you always eyed this type of job?
I'd like to say it was great career-planning, but it wasn't--I have no experience at a nonprofit. But the last general counsel left, and someone I knew threw my hat in the ring. I have no experience in sports law at all. But I had been general counsel before at a few places, and had been a chief administrative officer. So maybe I had the right blend of experience.

Are you a tennis fan or a former player?
Absolutely, as long as you count summer camp. As a fan, the turning point for me was watching Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in 1973. Then Jimmy Connors and Chris Evert just stormed onto the stage, and I've been watching ever since.

And negotiating with the city to rename the tennis center in New York for Billie Jean King ended up being one of your first jobs, right?
It was my first deal here, and I was awestruck meeting her. But there was a lot of work that went into that deal. The city owns that property, so we had to negotiate with them because the lease has very specific rules about what we can and can't do. Then we had to make a deal about how we could use Billie Jean's name. We ended up agreeing not to use it for commercial purposes, unless it's for something that takes place at the center. We wouldn't connect her name with anything else.

Last summer, accusations of players dealing with gamblers emerged after a suspicious match in Poland involving the world's fourth-ranked player. Have you had to deal with that issue at all in your job?
Absolutely. We've educated players and the people who work on the grounds for us--they just can't be betting on the game. We now limit access to the player's locker room area so people can't see if someone's got a problem with their ankle. Even the press can't go in.

So, do you cheer for the American players because it's good for American tennis if they win?
Yes. We're thrilled the Williams sisters have played so well. It's a shame we have to lose one of them so early. [Ed. note: Serena beat older sister Venus in the quarterfinals Wednesday.] And, I'm an Andy fan.

Andy Roddick? We prefer Federer. We're rooting for a Federer-Nadal final.
That would be a fantastic ending.

But if Roddick's involved, you're rooting for him, right?
No question! [Ed. note: Third seed Novak Djokovic eliminated Roddick in the quarterfinals Thursday.]

Have you watched any matches yet? Will you watch the big ones this weekend?
It's been tough going so far. I've only caught a couple of games. But I have a feeling I'll find some time to watch an entire match this weekend.

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