Rule Changes in the News, 1994 Edition
When I was looking for a media source of the events described in the “An Inconvenient Truth” post, I mentioned that a random twitter userRead More
We Shall Discuss the Match Tie-Break Today
While the rules of tennis are fairly straight forward and compact in the main body, the appendices are extensive, convoluted, and the place where all hell breaks loose such as shortened scoring and other alternative formats. This brings us to the topic of the match tie-break.
WTA Player Age Eligibility Rules Genesis: Summer of 1994
I think that I would have skipped on past the nuance that the WTA Age eligibility rules emerged from the insane summer of 1994, butRead More
Best-of-five, a Major, and the WTA (Oh my!)
On March 29 1994, Tennis Australia announced that the finals of the women’s singles the following year would be played best-of-five sets. If history wasRead More
When Women Played Best of Five
Following the “Battle of the Sexes” in 1973, the debate over gender pay equity in women’s tennis hit a boiling point. A New York TimesRead More
Match Making
Today I move into a new topic within the USTA Friend at Court. Cue the balloon and confetti drop. I am once again making progressRead More
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.