Salazar to join USTA Player Development
June 21, 2017
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – The USTA today announced that it has hired veteran NFL strength and conditioning coach Brent Salazar to be its new Director of Performance, based at the USTA National Campus at Lake Nona in Orlando, Fla.
In this new position, Salazar will be responsible for the continued development and integration of Player Development’s “Performance Team” model, to optimize the support that the USTA provides American players. Salazar will report to Paul Lubbers, Senior Director of Coaching Education & Performance, and will oversee Player Development’s Strength and Conditioning team.
“I’m thrilled to be joining the USTA and its team of exceptional strength and conditioning coaches,” Salazar said. “I believe in Team USA, and I’m committed to developing champions. I applaud the USTA’s leadership for its emphasis on its players’ physical development, mental toughness and well-being.”
Salazar was the head strength and conditioning coach for the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings during the 2016 season, and before that spent nine years as an assistant strength coach for the Kansas City Chiefs. A native of Denver, Salazar played college tennis at the University of New Mexico, from which he graduated with an Exercise Physiology degree in 2003. He also served as the assistant director of athletic performance at the University of the Pacific in 2006, and did strength and conditioning internships with New Mexico (2002-03), the Denver Broncos (2005) and UNLV (2005).
“It is not often that a National Governing Body has the opportunity to bring in someone as uniquely skilled as Brent Salazar,” said USTA Player Development General Manager Martin Blackman. “Brent’s experience in tennis, strength and conditioning and performance team support makes him the perfect person for this position.
“Brent understands that developing champions begins with developing human beings, and that means coaching character first,” Blackman added. “Brent is a natural leader and is a perfect fit for our world class team of Strength & Conditioning experts, including Satoshi Ochi, Rodney Marshall, Gabriel Echeverria, Jen Fallon and Gena Ball.”
In January, USTA Player Development relocated its headquarters from Boca Raton, Fla., to the USTA National Campus at Lake Nona in Orlando, where its adidas Performance Center features eight outdoor hard courts, six European red clay courts and six indoor hard courts, as well as a state of the art athletic training area and a player lodge, which can house up to 40 players participating in Player Development programs. Additionally, the National Campus features a ‘Team USA’ area, where coaches and players from each of the USTA’s 17 sections can utilize to work collaboratively with Player Development.
The USTA is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the U.S. and the leader in promoting and developing the growth of tennis at every level — from local communities to the highest level of the professional game. A not-for-profit organization with more than 715,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds in growing the game. It owns and operates the US Open, the highest-attended annual sporting event in the world, and launched the US Open Series, linking seven summer WTA and ATP World Tour tournaments to the US Open. In addition, it owns approximately 90 Pro Circuit events throughout the U.S. and selects the teams for the Davis Cup, Fed Cup, Olympic and Paralympic Games. The USTA’s philanthropic entity, the USTA Foundation, provides grants and scholarships in addition to supporting tennis and education programs nationwide to benefit under-resourced youth through the National Junior Tennis & Learning (NJTL) network.For more information about the USTA, go to USTA.com or follow the official accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat.