The director of this weekend’s USTA Texas Adult Sectional Championship tournament sent out a communication to all players shortly before the draws were released. “As posted the tournament is Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, so when you sign up you should expect to play anytime during the tournament dates.” (Edited slightly for clarity and to fix a couple of typos.) It is sad that so many players had already reached out with special requests that the communication was even necessary.
Player responses to my “Three Day Weekend Tournament Survey” revealed a general preference for the Friday-Saturday-Sunday schedule. I kind of wonder if that result was influenced by widespread expectation that Friday doesn’t really mean Friday. In my opinion, all tournaments should be scheduled to start first thing Friday as soon as the morning dew burns off the courts.
Declining participation drives smaller draw sizes. That may, in turn, contribute to this apparent culture of entitlement from players regarding tournament schedules. I can see the logic behind the idea that when draw sizes are small that tournaments should be conducted primarily on Saturday and Sunday. However, nothing irks me more than squandering a Friday with beautiful weather followed by a Saturday total rain out. Culminating the tournament with no-ad four game sets on a Sunday after half the field gives up and withdraws isn’t good.
Additionally, it seems like scheduling accommodation requests are most often made by, and granted to, local players with close ties to the tournament director. The inequity is exacerbated by the fact that players from the host area don’t have the same challenges with travel time, meals, or lodging as the competitors from other cities. Local players should not need special scheduling considerations because they already have the advantage of playing at home.
I am also convinced that the majority of players do not understand or appreciate the complexities of court capacity and scheduling. Court time is a constrained resource and it is unlikely that the tournament director has excess courts available at the most desirable playing times.
Additionally, the requested time might negatively impact the player’s opponent(s). I have been personally victimized by a “convenience” rescheduling of a gendered doubles match that created a delay that cascaded into a mixed match well past midnight. Additionally, I already had an 8am singles match the following morning on the books. I guess that is why Whataburger sponsors so many tournaments. It is the only place reliably open at 2am.
Tournaments would be better if we could all follow a simple rule of thumb. If you enter a tournament, you should be available to play at any time on the days that the tournament is scheduled. When it comes to asking the tournament director for schedule accommodation… don’t.
100% right!