Fiend at Court Unplugged
Yesterday’s installment in the Fiend at Court “Unplugged” series lamented the fact that there isn’t a universal standard or etiquette for drying courts when it rains at tennis tournaments. Today I shift my attention to rain during regular season USTA league play. This is an entirely different dynamic.
Until I became a league captain myself, I vastly underappreciated the complexities associated with making decisions about handling rain outs for league matches. Merely receiving a message about whether or not the match is rained out completely masks the complexities.
I should preface the remainder of my thoughts on this topic with this fundamental truth: I hate having to reschedule league make-up matches with a blinding passion. It is never fun. It is never easy. If there is ANY chance of getting a match played as originally scheduled, I am going to tenaciously cling to that possibility.
The reason for this is because working with the opposing captain to find a time for a single match is excruciating. Finding a time when four players across both teams can align their schedules to play at a certain place and time is an absolute beating. I should also point out that each league match involves multiple lines, each one of which is individually negotiated.
My captaining experience has been exclusively for “plus” leagues where one or two “above level” players are allowed. The “plus” players have to play line 1 singles or doubles. That adds a layer of complexity as to who can even legitimately play each other. Thus both teams are required to agree not only on a time and date for singles or doubles, but also whether that match is line 1.
In order to maintain some semblance of the blind roster exchange that occurs with a regularly scheduled league match, all the rescheduled matchups are brokered through the respective captain of each team. This leads to a lot of communication delays as each captain serves as an intermediary to their team.
This is how it works in practice: I collect 2-3 proposed times for a match and then submit it to the opposing captain. Her team immediately places her on their “blocked callers” list and refuses to respond to her messages. After she threatens them with a court injunction — or worse, that they will have to play singles for the rest of the season — someone reluctantly agrees to the match time. At that point I discover that during the lengthy delay my entire team has decided to run off to the Bahamas together.
That is why it is better if the roster exchange occurs and then the heavens open. All of the matchups are locked in following the exchange. This means that working out logistics on the reschedule can be done in a group text directly between the players involved. It significantly cuts down on the effort and complexity of the coordination.
Squeegeeing courts for league play is fundamentally different than for a tournament. In my area, league matches are constrained to a very tight window for completion. A 9am league match will be followed by an 11am match for another set of teams. The courts pretty much have to be dry pretty close to match time.
At the same time, league players are reluctant to drive to the courts in an attempt to dry then if there is a chance that the match may not occur. From a player perspective, it is much more efficient to commute to the match and play at a time when actually playing is guaranteed. I totally get that.
Unlike the tournament situation, I think that there are a couple of mechanisms that could be put into place to take the rescheduling load off captains. First is to revisit the rules that require rained out matches to be “made up” within two weeks. The alternative would be to build buffer for rain out rescheduling at the end of the season prior to playoffs. If matches were rescheduled rather than “made up” it completely eliminates the communications nightmare for the captains.
The alternative proposal would be an online mechanism to support an electronic blind roster exchange on the day that the rained out match was scheduled. In effect this would be the same as exchanging a lineup and then having the matches rained out. With locked matches, the individual players can work out reschedule times directly.
With apologies to my opposing captains and our respective league teams, I will most likely continue to engage in this game of “chicken” with the rain and wet courts. If there is ay chance that the match can be played, I will be onsite early with my leaf blower and squeegee in hand. It is simply what I am wired to do.
