Fiend at Court Unplugged
I returned to the tournament trail last weekend so it is the perfect time to revisit the state of USTA Senior Tennis from a player perspective. This article touches on player participation, tournament policies, and the USTA tournament engagement platform.
The “Metroplex Super Senior and Senior Major Zone” is a USTA Level 5 Open event. The host facility is the Arlington Tennis Center which is metaphorically in my own back yard. It is an event that is automatically circled on my calendar each year. In addition, I was defending a significant number of rankings points in both 50 and over singles and mixed doubles. I failed in both endeavors and it had nothing to do with how I played.
I was unable to defend my singles ranking points because I was the only senior women who entered singles for the tournament this year at any open age division. Consequently the draw did not make. I played mixed doubles with the Fiend at Court Spousal Unit where we were slotted into a three team round robin. However, we were combined with the youngsters at 40 and over rather than the 50 and over division which we (sort of) entered. As a result, we were unable to defend our points in that division either.
Tournament Participation
The new USTA tournament platform makes it difficult to view total players for a tournament once players are selected for the event. Consequently, I cannot easily examine the total participation. However, it is evident that it was lower in 2021 than it was in 2020. Covid probably had an impact on both events.
Lest I be accused of never finding anything positive to say about the new tournament engagement platform, the fact that I entered singles and the draw did not make illustrates one significant improvement. Under the new system, players are not charged for their entries unless their draw makes. The defunct TennisLink platform charged each player immediately and getting a refund from tournament organizers was sometimes like pulling teeth.
That subtle change is more significant that it might initially appear. In the legacy system, players were reluctant to enter events unless there appeared to be a good chance that it would actually happen due to the issue with having to fight for a refund. As a result, people were hesitant to enter tournaments unless someone else had already entered. That creates an artificial participation impediment. The USTA should be trumpeting the fact that players will not be charged for entering events unless their draw makes. It is a big improvement.
Tournament Policies
Tournament directors have the option to prohibit players from “crossing over” age groups when entering a tournament. It is a ridiculous restriction that is a barrier to participation. It is particularly absurd in a senior event with low numbers of entries. If the USTA truly wants to increase tournament participation, the no cross-over policy should be explicitly eliminated.
Somehow the new platform has found a way to confound that matter. Tournament organizers have the option to configure their event to prevent players from submitting crossover entries. This led to the following absurdity in the Fiend at Court household participation in the tournament.
- My husband entered 40+ NTRP 3.5 doubles. (He was playing with a youngster who is not eligible for the 55+ division.)
- I threw in an entry early into Women’s 50+ singles, as is my custom.
- The USTA tournament platform would not let us enter mixed doubles together since no cross-over was allowed. In other words, he could not enter 50+ mixed and I could not enter 40+ mixed.
To compound the absurdity, it was clear that mixed was going to be a small round robin age combined draw when our entry was thrown in. Our workaround was to each throw an entry into the system at the age division we were allowed to play and then sending an email to the tournament director signaling our intent to play together. Other players might not realize that was an option.
There is no way to know how many players didn’t enter the tournament because they could not play the combination of divisions they wanted.
This is not the way the USTA should want the system to work. Additionally, I do not believe that USTA tournament directors should ever configure to the “no-crossover” option unless the event was VERY large. From a policy standpoint, the USTA should discourage if not outright eliminate the practice.
Finishing Shots
Even with the hot conditions and a playing with a mixed partner who literally hit service returns over the fence, it was good to be back in the tournament swing of things. Playing tennis is good. Struggling against sub-optimal engagement platforms and declining participation detracts from the experience.
