Tennis News You Can Use
There are exactly 25 days until the new USTA tournament structure for 2021 is officially enacted. It is almost time to take a deep breath and collectively say “Let’s do this.” There seems to be a perceptible uptick in the rate of new information trickling out for what USTA sanctioned tennis tournaments will look like in 2021.
Postcards from the USTA
A postcard from the USTA arrived at the Fiend at Court household earlier this week heralding the upcoming tournament changes for 2021. The target audience for that communication would seem to be USTA members that have either missed or ignored all of the previous email communication on this topic. I am sure that those people exist.
The picture side of the postcard points to “usta.com/adulttournaments2021” as the place to go for more information. Additionally, there is a QR code that lands on the same page. It is the same one that has been previously circulated by the USTA via email. Thus, the postal mail communication campaign does not impart any new detail.
As a side note, QR stands for “Quick Response.” That technology has been touted as a way to better engage consumers who may be too lazy or challenged to type in those pesky URLs. The way a QR code works is that the user can take a picture of a square matrix of dots on a modern smartphone. If the phone has the QR technology, it will launch a web page associated with the the code on that matrix on a web browser.
Assuming that the target audience for the postcard is people who have missed the electronic missives from the USTA on this topic, I think that it is unlikely that that demographic will make use of the QR code. It simply isn’t compatible with that ancient flip phone they are probably carrying around.
As a computer security professional, I would urge caution and discretion when encountering QR codes as a consumer. Just as you shouldn’t directly click on links received in unsolicited email from unknown sources, you should similarly never click on a QR code without first establishing a trust relationship with the sender. (That concludes my internet security PSA for today.)
The flip side of the postcard indicates that the new tournament structure is the culmination of the USTA’s commitment to provide the tennis consumer with “more consistency, more clarity and more opportunities to play in USTA Adult Tournaments.”
Tournament Calendar News
The USTA Section Office has amended the Texas Adult Tournament Page with a listing of the “Major” Tournaments Schedule. Major seems to be the new nomenclature for all the Major Zones, Sectionals, and the Masters. I can work with that.
Two things jump out at me based from the list of tournaments currently published on that page. First, the Major Zone traditionally held in Fort Worth in July is absent from the list. I suspect that Fort Worth did not apply or bid for that tournament this year.
The other thing that caught my attention is that a there is a tournament listed as the “50+” Masters. I believe that event will actually be for the 40+ and 55+ levels. If it is for one or the other of the new age groups, then there is also a missing Masters.
Serve Tennis
The Serve Tennis platform replaces TennisLink for registration of tournaments starting in January 2021. The USTA National page where tournaments will apparently be processed indicates that registration for tournaments will open on December 15.
That page also contains a link to the Serve Tennis page where players can query for the tournaments that have already been instantiated. One thing that jumps out at me in the the current interface is that there is no way to filter queries based on the Level of the tournament. For example, if I want to view all the Level 1 tournaments for women’s 50+, there is no way to do that at the moment. That is a serious flaw that should be corrected as soon as possible.
I queried for all tournaments in Texas for Women’s 50+. Currently there are 5 tournaments populated. In 2020, TennisLink reflected 36 tournaments with 50+ women’s divisions. All 5 tournaments currently listed for 2021 are recurring tournaments from prior years. I am sure that the “more opportunities” to play will emerge as the 2020 calendar is fully populated.
NTRP National Updates
USTA Texas sent out an email this week with updated information on NTRP Nationals. Based on who did and did not receive that email within the Fiend at Court household, it looks like only went out to players who already have an endorsement for NTRP Nationals carried over from 2020.
The venue for the 50+ Doubles NTRP Nationals will be changed. The site is still to be determined. No reason for that was given, but I suspect that it is because the previous site in Naples is a junior tennis academy with boarding players. I can see how hosting a large adult tournament during these times might be a challenge for that type of facility.
It also appears that the postponement or cancellation of the NTRP National Championships in 2021 is under consideration. It was indicated in the same email that the USTA will make a decision on that matter on or before February 26.
Additionally, it was shared that all USTA Adult National Tournaments for the month of January have been cancelled. That is not exactly news to anyone who watches the Adult National Tournament calendar closely. To add a little color, some of those tournaments are technically “postponed” and could be rescheduled.
Finishing Shots
T Minus 25. 25 days until the official rollout of the new USTA Adult Tournament framework.
I am reminded of a classic children’s book from my childhood, “The Monster at the End of This Book.” The iconic Sesame Street character Grover is extremely fearful of, well… the monster at the end of the book. I don’t want to spoil the big ending, but I hope that it is a fitting metaphor as 2020 rolls into 2021.
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