The FMLC Mullet
The “mullet” hairstyle is a combination of short and long hair colloquially described as “business in the front, party in the back.” With that definition, the First Match Loser’s Consolation (FMLC) draw is the “mullet” of tournament formats. Ranking points are awarded on a “order of finish” basis in the front draw but switches around to a “points per round” system in the back draw. I don’t have the official stats from the USTA, but I would be stunned if FMLC wasn’t the most commonly used format for USTA sanctioned tournaments by a mile. Unfortunately, that draw format directly contributes to player disengagement from tournament play.
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