This week’s post started with a simple USTA League Regulations question and ended with yet another example of the tyranny of the calendar. I received a text this week asking if a USTA League team who won Sectionals was required to split up even if the team decided not to go to the National Championships. It is a strange question that I had never previously considered.
Fortunately, the language in the 2023 USTA League National Regulations is definitive.
2.06A(2): Split-Up – No more than three (3) players who were on the roster of any team that advanced to, or qualified for, any National Championship team the previous year may play together in the same Division, same Age Group and at the same NTRP team level as the National Championship team(s), if their NTRP rating allows.
2023 USTA League National Regulations
If a USTA League team qualifies for Nationals, they cannot dodge the split-up rule by not going. While the original question was easy to answer, it left a second lingering one to consider. Why would a USTA League team potentially qualify for Nationals and then decide to skip it?
The answer, in this particular case, is a USTA scheduling conflict. The USTA League Mixed 18+ 10.0 National Championships are scheduled for the same weekend as the Level 1 “Women’s National Grass Court 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 & 90” Individual Championships. There is no realistic way for a player to compete at both.
Unfortunately, there is some overlap between the 5.0 women that any USTA 10.0 Mixed team would want on their roster and the players that compete at National Level 1 tournaments. Once the Sectional Championships season is completed, at least one player, and possibly a few others, will face a tough decision.
Ideally, USTA League Nationals involving 5.0 players and Level 1 Tournaments should not be scheduled on the same weekend. I know that the USTA is aware of the issue this year and has pledged to try to avoid this kind of conflict in the future. I hope they find a way to do that. However, there is only so much space on the calendar.
Even if the National Championships for League and Level 1 tournaments are deconflicted, there will be a ripple effect into Sectional Championships and potentially local playoffs. The problem gets even more challenging if the USTA decides that the practice should be extended to 4.5 with some of the older age divisions. To exacerbate the situation, the men’s and women’s tournaments are not typically conducted on the same weekend.
That’s a lot of moving parts to accommodate with only 52 weeks in the year. The tyranny of the calendar is real.
- 2023 USTA League National Regulations, USTA Resource Document, May 31, 2023.
