The USTA NTRP National Championships informational web pages, as well as the individual tournament event pages for the 2022 tournaments, all claim that the scoring format is played as best of three short sets. However, at least one division this year was contested using full six game sets including a full third. The question is… Why?
Last weekend in “Rankings Issues (Still) Unresolved” I wrote about rankings points that were assigned in the Women’s 5.0 singles division that was held in Surprise. With only four competitors in that division, each competitor played three matches in a single round robin pool. I refrained from making the comment that three short format matches would not have been enough tennis to justify the travel and time for me.
The following weekend, another division in the doubles NTRP National Championship tournament appeared to be in the same boat. The Men’s 55+ 3.0 doubles division only had four teams entered and was also scheduled as a single round robin pool.
The scores for that division — and that division only — recorded first round scores with six game sets. Additionally, that division at that site played a six game set for the third rather than a super breaker. This might be my personal cognitive bias showing, but I would have expected the Women’s 5.0 Singles to go to full three sets long before that decision was made for Men’s 55+ 3.0 doubles.
The Trophy Husband reached out to two of his buddies that played in that draw. The questions flowed to them sought for their perspectives on how the opportunity to play the more traditional scoring format came about. It should also be noted that these guys were not partnered up. Their combined experience represents half the teams in the field.
First of all, they were delighted with the decision to play the matches as full three sets. Short set matches are pretty rare in USTA tournaments in Texas, so there might be a little bias in their experience. Both players believe that the tournament director interceded to advocate for the longer format. If that is the case, they appreciate his efforts.
Given the published format of the tournament, the departure is only feasible when the draw sizes are 1/8 the number of what would be considered to be a full draw size. The participation rate would seem to be more of an urgent concern than the scoring format used. However, it may be that the low number of competitors coupled with the shortened format kept other teams from entering. We will likely never know.
It probably does not matter. The USTA seems committed to the short set format. This particular experiment may open the door for altering the format when there are very few entries into a division. It is an interesting situation, but I am not sure that it is ultimately consequential.
- USTA National 18+ NTRP Singles Championships, April 1-3 2022, Surprise, AZ.
- 2022 USTA NTRP National Championships Doubles, April 8-10, Pelham, AL.
I am a 5.0 Women’s Division player, set to attend Surprise. This was exactly why I didn’t attend. The time and financial cost of playing very short sets was not worth the amount of tennis played in this event.