Fiend at Court Unplugged
2020 was supposed to be a banner year for me in terms of playing Cat 1 Senior Women’s National Championships. I was already entered in two events, and one of my personal goals was to play at one, if not both, of the National Grass Court Championships. Stupid pandemic.
Yesterday I talked about a specific change coming for the Cat 1 National Championships in 2021. There will be no more Indoor championships. That reduces the total number of Cat 1 National Championships down to three, each one on a different surface. The remaining Cat 1 tournaments will be offered on Clay, Grass, and of course the traditional Hardcourts.
Today I am focusing very specifically on what has motivated my historic decisions to play specific events. I think that the factors that I consider are possibly illuminating of the things that other players may also consider. By no means do I think that I am typical, or that everybody else thinks the same way I do. This is just my personal experience.
Fuzzy Math and Nomenclature
With Cat 1 National Championships on three surfaces, you might think that there are three chances to play for a “Gold Ball” national championship in the women’s divisions. As it turns out, the number is actually six. This is because there are separate tournaments for the age divisions that end with zeroes and the fives.
For example, in 2020 I was already entered in both Cat 1 National Clay Court Championships. The 45 and over tournament was scheduled for Houston, Texas and the 50 and over tournament was scheduled for Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Both of those events were ultimately cancelled. Stupid pandemic.
Additionally, as I mentioned yesterday, the nomenclature for the tournaments is changing in 2021. The tournaments will then be referred to as “Level 1.” I am sticking with the Cat 1 convention for now. Additionally I have no idea if the cool kids will be shortening the new name to Lev 1 or not. Stay tuned.
The Convenience Factor
Since my return to competitive tennis, I have played the National Clay Court Championships held in Houston, Texas almost every year. There is a pretty simple reason for my consistent participation in that tournament. It is within driving distance, thus it is easy to cope with the travel and logistics challenges that I will get to at some point in the future.
For kind of the same reason, when my brother moved to Denver, I circled the National Indoor Championships on my calendar as that tournament was held nearby in Lakewood. In addition to free lodging, it was an opportunity to spend some rare quality time with a member of my family who is actually good at tennis. Unfortunately, that tournament was moved to another location after the first year I played it.
My entry into the 2020 50 and over National Clay Court Championships in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida was a target of opportunity. My husband was scheduled to play the NTRP National Championships this year in Naples. That event overlapped with the final weekend of the Cat 1 Clays. We planned out both tournaments as a vacation. The contingency plan in the event that I made it to the final weekend of the Cat 1 was to get a second rental car and split up for a day or two. Playing the final weekend of a Cat 1 tournament would have been a nice problem to have.
Regional Distribution
Because the convenience factor has been the dominant factor in my own personal decision to enter events, I have a strong preference that balanced regional distribution is preserved for the Cat 1 tournaments. The ability to enter at least Cat 1 that does not involve a multi-day drive or a plane ticket is an opportunity that ideally most players should have.
At the same time, I recognize that it is impossible for the USTA to achieve that objective. In order for a tournament to be conducted at a certain place and time, there has to be a facility equipped with organizers who are willing to host it. Regional distribution will never be fully achieved but it should be a consideration.
The elimination of the Indoors as a Cat 1 tournament makes me worry about how regional distribution will look going forward. The parts of the country with facilities that have enough indoor courts for a National Cat 1 are in parts of the country that don’t historically host the Cat 1 tournaments on outdoor surfaces. It would be tremendously risky to move a Cat 1 from a location that is both well run and popularly played to a site where those factors are largely unknown.
Roadblocks and Depressors
Tomorrow I will focus on some of the reasons why I have elected to not play National Cat 1 Championships. The enumeration of those factors highlight why it is unlikely that I will ever consistently play a full slate of those events. Spoiler alert! I have a life outside of tennis.
- “2021 Adult Tournament Changes: Indoor Level 1 (gold ball) Nationals are Eliminated,” Carolyn Nichols, The Senior Tennis Blog, September 21, 2020.
- “2021 Adult Tournament Changes“, public google doc referenced by NWTO website, viewed, October 14, 2020.
The Fiend at Court Unleashed series runs on this site every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The Unleashed series topics cover a broad range of topics.
