Kicking VASSS

Today I should be writing about the Friend at Court section 5.a, “Tie-Break game,” but I am struggling to string together anything coherent on that topic. For the record, I am self-aware enough to realize that my compulsory readers will tell me that coherent is not the word they would use to describe this endeavor. It may also be a surprise to my readership to learn that I actually do make some effort to stay on point.

I finally arrived at the realization that before I can write effectively about the tie-break game, that first I need to get “VASSS” and Jimmy Van Alen out of my system.

Jimmy Van Alen invented the Van Alen Simplified Scoring System (VASSS) in 1958. It would have been weird if he had invented a scoring system with someone else’s last name in the title, but if the same proposal emerged in the present day I am convinced that it would be the “Oh My Gosh, We Have to do Something About John Isner” scoring system.

Van Alen was convinced that tennis had become boring because it was being dominated by players with big serves. In 1958. To combat that, one feature of VASSS is that a new line was created three feet behind the baseline from which the serve was delivered. That extra distance is intended to negate the effectiveness of the serve and volley style of play which Van Alen apparently considered to be an anathema.

VASSS also reflected Van Alen’s concern that tennis matches were taking too long and that something needed to be done to streamline or speed up play. The most public display of the proposed system occurred in Newport in 1965 where Van Alen was able to leverage his status as founder of the International Tennis Hall of Fame and $10,000 in prize money to lure many of the top professional players to a VASS exhibition.

In the specific version of of VASSS played on that day, the winner was the first to 31 points. The serve was delivered from three feet behind the baseline alternating every six points with the side change occurring every 12. The matches were meant to take no more than 30 minutes. Predictably, the pros that lost hated the scoring system and the ones that won found it to be intriguing. It didn’t catch on.

For my part, I am likely to terrorize my training partners in the immediate future with a sudden desire to try out VASSS as a practice rally game. I am pretty sure that starting points into the service boxes using a drop feed would produce essentially the same result as serving from three feet behind the baseline. I am also somewhat surprised that modern tennis hasn’t turned to some variant of VASSS to combat the existential threat of pickleball.

While VASSS did not catch on, another related Jimmy Van Alen innovation did have a seismic impact on the modern tennis score keeping system, which is what nudged me down this particular rabbit trail in the first place. Eventually I will get there. No promises about tomorrow.

1. United States Tennis Association (2020) Friend at Court. White Plains, NY
2. “Anyone Care to Play some VASSS?“, Frank Deford, Sports Illustrated, July 19, 1965.
3. “Jimmy Van Alen“, International Tennis Hall of Fame Biography, viewed Feb 2, 2020.