Fiend at Court Unleashed
The pinnacle of my return to tennis has been the opportunity to participate in Category 1 National Championships. Competing at that level is an amazing experience. The atmosphere and camaraderie at these events is everything tennis should be.
In “I’m Dreaming of a White Fortnight” I wrote about how it was my intention to play the grass court Category 1 tournaments in 2020. It is the only surface that I have yet to play on at that level. The first time I step onto a court at the grass court national championships will also most likely be the first time I ever play a match on that surface.
As an additional editorial note, the nomenclature used to describe tournaments will be updated in 2021. The Category 1 tournaments will be known as Level 1 tournaments in the very near future. For this post I am retaining the current Category 1 language while also shortening the reference to Cat 1, which is what the cool kids call it.
Cat 1 Participation Trends
My own participation in Cat 1 tournaments includes both playing in these events as well as monitoring entries for events that I am considering playing. From that experience, I can personally attest to the fact that participation levels of these events have been declining in recent years. It is a real problem for senior women’s tennis and I gather that similar trends are occurring on the men’s side.
I have previously borrowed the concept of “critical mass” from chemistry to describe the minimum threshold participation required to conduct an effective tennis tournament. When numbers drop below those levels, it is no longer possible for tournaments to attract players to events. Once critical mass is lost, it is very difficult to get it back.
Some of the Cat 1 tournaments have been teetering on the brink of losing that participation. I believe that fact has been at front of mind for the USTA as the tournament restructuring initiative was conceived. It has been directly communicated to me on two separate occasions that the NTRP changes will ultimately help senior age group tennis. I sincerely hope that it does.
Upcoming Changes to Cat 1 Tournaments
Three weeks ago, Carolyn Nichols, author of The Senior Tennis Blog, published a summary of changes coming in 2021 to the Cat 1 tournaments. Her site included notes on the upcoming changes which was originally published on the NWTO website.
As a point of disclosure, I most certainly do not have a handle on the providence or origin of the notes. The author appears to have insight into the USTA Adult Competition Committee (ACC) but I am still trying to determine who produced the notes and in what context.
The headline change is the reduction of the number of Cat 1 tournaments from four to three. The Indoor championships will be eliminated in 2021, leaving the Hardcourts, Clay, and Grass as the three remaining tournaments. The rationale behind the change is that reducing the number of Cat 1 playing events will consolidate participation into the other three events.
The reason the Indoors was targeted for elimination is because that surface historically draws the lowest participation rates. Grass also has low historic participation rates and might be next on the chopping block if the consolidation trend continues. On the other hand, grass has tradition on its side. The surface is the literal roots of the game.
Framing the Changes
There are additional changes at the Cat 1 level in the points structure as well as the playing format. As a player that has made a series of decisions to either play or not play events over the past few years, I have a lot of insight into what influenced, shaped, and drove the decisions that I ultimately made.
Framing those decisions against some of the reported upcoming changes places me in somewhat of an awkward position when those decisions don’t fully align with my own personal experiences. I certainly don’t expect for the USTA or any other organization to structure events that cater to my own personal experiences and preferences. No one should.
I am late to the game in offering up my own experience and recommendations. At the same time, since my return to tennis, I have been somewhat astonished that my thoughts or feedback have not been solicited. Until the recent email request for data and experiences from the NWTO that put me on this topic last weekend, I have otherwise never been approached for information or recommendations.
At a fundamental level, every time a former player steps back into the competitive tennis tournament fold, the organizations involved should descend on that person for every last bit of information that illuminates what precipitated the return.
Tomorrow I will enumerate what goes into my own personal decision on whether or not to play a particular event. In the course of that examination, the impacts of some of the proposed changes as I understand them will be discussed. They are inextricably linked together.
- “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.
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.
