Fiend at Court Unplugged
When the USTA established three age-based playing divisions for each NTRP level, there were consequences to the decision. One of the more subtle effects of dividing a single draw into three smaller brackets is that significantly less tennis is played. The numbers don’t lie.
To illustrate the effect, let’s say that there are 15 players who enter an NTRP division at a tournament. If there is a single draw, the bracket will start in the round of 16 with one bye. In the First Match Losers Consolation (FMLC) format, a minimum of 21 total matches will be played. That number rises to 22 if the player that received the bye loses the first match played.
Now let’s assume that the same tournament offers 18+, 40+, and 55+ divisions and there are (conveniently) five players entered in each age division. Those individual brackets will require a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 6 matches to complete. Multiplying those totals across 3 age groups means that there will be 15-18 matches actually played. That is a reduction of 15-29% of the total number of matches when compared to a single bracket.
As an alternate scenario, if only 12 players entered into the same tournament, a unified draw would take 16 matches to complete. (There would be no “if necessary” matches in that format.) If those 12 players were divided into 3 brackets each with 4 players, then 12 total matches would be required to complete the tournament. That is 25% less tennis.
In FMLC format, half of the playing field will play only two matches. However, some players have a chance to play 3-4 matches (in this example) and even more than that if the bracket is larger than 16 players. When draws are divided, the vast majority of players will play only two matches.
Even worse, smaller brackets have a higher risk of players not actually playing two matches if someone withdraws. Larger brackets are not as susceptible to the risk of players only receiving a single match.
Players who compete in tournaments for the purpose of actually playing tennis should be uniformly opposed to dividing NTRP levels into smaller divisions. There is probably a constituency out there that likes the smaller brackets and relatively easy rankings points for winning a single first round match rather than a series of matches to arrive at the same rankings point values.
It would not surprise me to learn that tournament organizers favor the smaller draws. The tournament collects the same entry fee and fewer matches means that less court time is required. Reducing the total matches also makes scheduling less complex.
Smaller draws result in dramatically less tennis. The effect exists no matter how unified draws are divided. Age based divisions in NTRP tournaments systemically institutionalizes a reduction in match play. It is bad for the tennis ecosystem. I know of no players who enter a tournament with the hope that they won’t have to play very much.
Less tennis is never the answer.
