Fiend at Court Unplugged
Yesterday I described some of the factors that brought me to enter many of the Cat 1 tournaments that I have entered. Today I am enumerating the reasons that I don’t play a full state of Cat 1 tournaments every year. In what may be the most shocking revelation of this site to date, I have a life outside of tennis.
Career Obligations
I remind my regular readers from time to time that I have a somewhat demanding day job that takes a certain amount of time. As I mentioned yesterday, I usually play the National Cat 1 tournament that is hosted in my home USTA Section and is thus within driving distance. The reason I can’t use the word always is because there have been a couple of years where work obligations precluded my participation.
Cat 1 tournaments are nominally put on the calendar for Monday through Sunday. Some tournaments are pretty good about specifying when each draw is anticipated to start actual play which can cut down the window a little bit. There will be no change in 2021 with the roll out of the new USTA tournament framework. These tournaments are still listed as “Up to 7 days” in duration.
Thus, a person with a job would essentially be required to take three weeks of vacation to play all three Cat 1 tournaments in 2021. That is only applicable for a salaried worker that receives paid vacation days. For the many tennis players that teach tennis as their occupation, there is really no such thing as paid time off. However they may enjoy more flexibility to take the time.
Family Obligations
It is not a coincidence that my return to competitive tennis roughly coincided to when the umpire I gave birth to started driving. Children have academics, sports, and other activities that require parental attention. Most people are unwilling miss those formative years.
The fact that the Fiend at Court Spousal Unit also plays tennis is a fairly recent development. This is awesome from the standpoint that “I can’t I have tennis” is an accepted excuse that is generally respected and accepted without further explanation in our household. I know that some of my tennis friends with non-playing spouses are not as fortunate in that regard.
Even thought my kids are semi-adults, there are still times and events in their lives that have taken priority over tennis tournaments. I am not skipping any academic graduations.
Other Hobbies
When the National Indoors were still a thing, the USTA had a nasty habit of occasionally scheduling that tournament over the Labor Day weekend. I have two very important fantasy football drafts to attend at that time every year. I am not missing my fantasy football drafts for a stupid tennis tournament.
In related news, my kids are aware that Labor Day weekend weddings… would be a really bad idea.
Tennis versus Tennis
At my current stage of life, the single most significant competitive force that prevents me from playing tennis tournaments is other tennis events. For example, I have mentioned that every year I intend to play at least one of the grass court championships and almost never do. The reason for that is other tennis tournaments.
The Cat 1 Grass Court National Championships are held for my ages and gender in consecutive weeks in July every year. It always the exact time when two “Major Zone” tournaments are held in my home section. I can play one tournament in San Antonio and another in Fort Worth which is basically right in my own backyard. It is a hard justification to spend the money and time to play the National Grass Court tournaments when I can play more matches locally without the exorbitant overhead of money and time.
Additionally, the Dallas Tennis Association League always schedules the spring playoffs on the exact same weekend as the Fort Worth Major Zone. Every year. It is an annoying coincidence that keeps the better Dallas league players from crossing over into convenient tournament play. The USTA needs a more coordinated calendar that encompasses both league and tournament embargo dates.
Time is Money and Money is Time
Numbers presented in the 2020 Tennis Industry forum backs up the perception that tennis players tend to be at the upper echelons of financial demographics in the United States. 41% of tennis players enjoy an annual income of $100k per year or higher.
There are many tennis players who can afford to play a full state of Cat 1 tournaments every year. There are also others who can not. As the USTA works to increase diversity in tennis, that will also necessarily include financial diversity. Equitable access to the Cat 1 tournaments may become a future consideration.
Examining my own financial situation, I could find a way to play all three Cat 1 tournaments every year. That decision would involve other financial tradeoffs in my life and also some potentially challenging career decisions. As one very salient example, I am not willing to delay my retirement to make playing every Cat 1 a reality.
Additionally, time is a significant factor due to the demands of my career. While I can save some money with ground based transportation to some events, that would come at a cost of time away from family and work. On the other hand, flying saves time, but brings increased cost even beyond the plane ticket. Flying means that a rental car may be required and increases the number of required hotel days at the tournament, even if I lose out early.
Sometimes when I elect to not play a prospective tournament, it comes down to a combination of money and time. I simply can’t make the return on investment work in a way that satisfies my sensibilities. I will pick up next Friday with a very detailed example of that calculation.
The reason why I raise that last point is that I most frequently hear “no time” as a reason why players don’t play events. Undoubtedly there is truth to that claim. At the same time, I sometimes I also think that people claim no time when budgetary constraints might actually be the primary reason. Somehow in our culture it is noble to have no time, but embarrassing to admit that finances are a constraint.
- “2021 Adult Tournament Changes: Indoor Level 1 (gold ball) Nationals are Eliminated,” Carolyn Nichols, The Senior Tennis Blog, September 21, 2020.
- “2021 Adult Tournament Changes“, public google doc referenced by NWTO website, viewed, October 14, 2020.
- 2020 Virtual Tennis Industry Forum, Vimeo Hosted Video, September 15, 2020.
The Fiend at Court Unleashed series runs on this site every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The Unleashed series topics cover a broad range of topics.
