Desperately Seeking Fast4
I spent some time this weekend scouring the USTA participation portal, TennisLink, for data about tournament offerings and participation using the Fast4 format. Locating relevantRead More
1 responseOne More Tantalizing Short Set Quirk
As I was trying to bring the Fast4 topic to a close, I noticed one more awesome variation in the decisions that a sanctioning bodyRead More
Tie-Break: Short Set vs Fast4
Cue the opening riff from the Finale from the William Tell Overture, because I am off and running on another Fast4 rant. This is the last one for the month of February. I promise. Ordinarily this would be a fairly safe assertion to make on the 28th of February, but the calendar has conspired against me by adding a 29th day this year.
1 responseNot so Fast, Fast4
I am convinced that my dislike of Fast4 is sourced from the belief that it fundamentally changes the nature of the competition in tennis.
Fast4 at the NTRP “National Championships”
In 2018, the USTA pioneered a new NTRP National Championship tournament. There are actually separate championships for two age group levels. Tournaments are conducted inRead More
The Insidious Rise of Fast4
The “global launch” of Fast4 tennis occurred in January 2015 at a series of exhibitions sponsored by Tennis Australia. The first event featured an exhibitionRead More
2 responsesCricket: The Ticket to Fast4?
As has been mentioned before, I am an engineer. Engineers are sometimes observed to be somewhat lacking in the area of interpersonal skills. My theoryRead More
1 responseWhodunnit: Fast4
Today I will remain on the Fast4 rabbit trail by attempting to solve the mystery of who inflicted this scoring system on the rest of tennis.
1 responseThis Ain’t My First Fast 4 Rodeo
In a nutshell, the Fast4 Format consists of “Short” sets, where the winner of each set is the first to win 4 games. A tie-break game is played if the score reaches 3-3 or 4-4 “at the discretion of the sanctioning body.” The decision of the game count when the tie-break should be played seems to be roughly 50-50 in actual usage across events.
2 responsesGetting a Little Short with Short Set Formats
The first alternative set scoring format defined in Appendix V is “Short” sets. The placement of the quotation marks around the “Short” is provided courtesyRead More