An Inconvenient Truth
Every once in a while there is a modern perspective about past events that doesn’t exactly align with all the facts. Current conventional wisdom isRead More
Best-of-five, a Major, and the WTA (Oh my!)
On March 29 1994, Tennis Australia announced that the finals of the women’s singles the following year would be played best-of-five sets. If history wasRead More
A Fact Checking Pause
Today I am writing about my journey of discovery. Specifically about whether or not one of the majors decided to play the women’s final asRead More
When Women Played Best of Five
Following the “Battle of the Sexes” in 1973, the debate over gender pay equity in women’s tennis hit a boiling point. A New York TimesRead More
Match Making
Today I move into a new topic within the USTA Friend at Court. Cue the balloon and confetti drop. I am once again making progressRead More
Desperately Seeking Fast4
I spent some time this weekend scouring the USTA participation portal, TennisLink, for data about tournament offerings and participation using the Fast4 format. Locating relevantRead More
1 responseOne More Tantalizing Short Set Quirk
As I was trying to bring the Fast4 topic to a close, I noticed one more awesome variation in the decisions that a sanctioning bodyRead More
February 2020 Meta Reflection
Today I am celebrating completion of the second consecutive month of maintaining my streak of writing a page a day about tennis. I have decidedRead More
Tie-Break: Short Set vs Fast4
Cue the opening riff from the Finale from the William Tell Overture, because I am off and running on another Fast4 rant. This is the last one for the month of February. I promise. Ordinarily this would be a fairly safe assertion to make on the 28th of February, but the calendar has conspired against me by adding a 29th day this year.
1 responseNot so Fast, Fast4
I am convinced that my dislike of Fast4 is sourced from the belief that it fundamentally changes the nature of the competition in tennis.