Fiend at Court Unplugged
Last weekend the post “Points Illustrated: An Example of Rankings Inequities,” contained an example where a winless team was awarded 615 ranking points in a Level 4 round robin bracket. In the USTA legacy digital platform, players had to win a match in a tournament to receive anything more than participation points for the event. The fact that the new digital platform awarded those points is a great backdrop for exploring what the USTA regulations actually say.
In 2021, four major sections were removed from the USTA Friend at Court that are now maintained as separate documents. (I was astonished to find that I actually wrote about this restructuring and why it was a good idea earlier this year in the post “USTA Friend at Court 2021.”) One of those “new” documents is the USTA Adult and Family Tournament, Ranking, and Sanctioning Regulations.
The 2021 USTA Adult Tournaments Ranking System document that has the actual rankings point tables contains a statement to “Click here for the USTA ranking & sanctioning regulations.” That implied link does not actually work, but it is likely that it was intended to point back to the USTA Adult and Family Tournament, Ranking, and Sanctioning Regulations. Nobody does broken links better than the USTA.
The USTA regulations indicates that the USTA uses a “Points Per Round” ranking system. The regulations do not explicitly state that it is required to win a match to receive advancement rankings points. However, that does seem to be the spirit and intent of that system. That philosophy is reflected in how byes are treated in the regulations.
Treatment of byes, withdrawals, walkovers, disqualifications, defaults, retirements, and abandonments or cancellations.
a. Byes. A player who advances because of a bye does not receive ranking points for advancing.
b. Withdrawals, walkovers, disqualifications, defaults, and retirements. A player who advances because of a withdrawal, walkover, disqualification, default, or retirement receives ranking points for advancing.
c. Abandoned or cancelled matches. If a match is abandoned or cancelled by tournament decision, players will be awarded ranking points based on the last round in which they won a match.
Regulation IX.F.3, USTA Adult and Family Tournament, Ranking, and Sanctioning Regulations [2]
The winless team that was awarded rankings points in “Points Illustrated: An Example of Rankings Inequities” was in a 5 team round robin draw. Had that division been played as a bracketed draw, a winless team would only receive participation points. I have said it before and will say it again: The draw format of a tournament should not materially alter the rankings point allocation for the players.
I am hard pressed to categorize this as an error in the new digital platform. Rather, I think that it is a difference from the previous implementation that highlights that there is ambiguity in the USTA Regulations. The solution is to ensure that the Regulations are clear. I intend to explore that tomorrow.
- United States Tennis Association (2021), Friend at Court: Handbook of Rules and Regulations, White Plains, NY
- USTA Adult and Family Tournament, Ranking & Sanctioning Regulations, Adopted May 14, 2020 and Amended December 2020.
- 2021 USTA Adult Tournaments Ranking System, USTA Web Hosted Document, viewed 11/11/2021.
Glad to see you bulldogging this aspect!