Ridiculous ending to tiebreaker

[Ironwood]

Not asking for a ruling here, just sharing a ridiculous ending to a club mixed doubles match tiebreaker. Mixed doubles indoor club fun tournament played over one month every Thursday evening, with each match a pro set over a one hour time slot. If tied at the stroke of the hour a coin flip will decide. Leading 4-3 in the deciding tiebreak, time is up, but as the next match is not quite ready to take the court with players still fumbling with gear, we relent and agree to play one more point as there was a little disruption in play just before the the hour struck as the next match walked up between courts to get ready. They win the point to take the (played first to 7) tiebreaker to 4-4. As the next match is still not ready to take the courts, we play on...I presume to finish the tiebreaker, but unbeknownst to me, my female partner has agreed at the net with her female counterpart to play one more point to decide. We loose the point and match. We went from winning on the hour to loosing the match a couple of minutes beyond the alloted time. Can't change anything as my partner did acknowledge agreeing to one more point, which it certainly would have been helpful had I known. Communication, or lack of...this is the stuff that happens at club level!

[sureshs]

You can never tell. Knowing it might have put more pressure on you causing degradation in play. Or it might have made you more careful and you might have won. You will never know.

[sundaypunch]

I would not want to take a win if I was up 4-3, serving at ad-out, and time expired. I would rather play a single point as you did to decide if you win or tie. In the event of a tie I would also rather play a single point than do a coin flip.

I realize that these aren't the rules though. What often happens is that you attempt to be fair and lose (as you did). Then the next time, you are in the opposite situation and the opponent does not do the same.

[dcdoorknob]

I don't live in an area where time constraints are *that* extreme, for sure, but I just don't see why you couldn't just finish out the whole TB once you are already at 4-4. Around here, even in timed USTA league matches, if you are within like 5 minutes of finishing a match when time is up, the convention is for the next people with the court (which is generally also going to be a USTA league match) to just let you finish it out. This works out fine because the people who have the court after them will also give them the same courtesy, if needed, unless they are the last match on for the night, in which case the person overseeing the courts is also typically lenient about leaving the lights on a bit past time so people can finish. (note: this is for league matches, where all parties seem to agree that its just better to finish out the matches if possible, the same thing doesn't apply to people in non-league matches, even if they are keeping score).

I guess its possible in other places this type of thing just wouldn't work, but I must say I much prefer it all these other stories about standing around with stopwatches and yelling time in the middle of match point or some other such sillyness.

[Cindysphinx]

Originally Posted by dcdoorknob

I don't live in an area where time constraints are *that* extreme, for sure, but I just don't see why you couldn't just finish out the whole TB once you are already at 4-4. Around here, even in timed USTA league matches, if you are within like 5 minutes of finishing a match when time is up, the convention is for the next people with the court (which is generally also going to be a USTA league match) to just let you finish it out. This works out fine because the people who have the court after them will also give them the same courtesy, if needed, unless they are the last match on for the night, in which case the person overseeing the courts is also typically lenient about leaving the lights on a bit past time so people can finish. (note: this is for league matches, where all parties seem to agree that its just better to finish out the matches if possible, the same thing doesn't apply to people in non-league matches, even if they are keeping score).

I guess its possible in other places this type of thing just wouldn't work, but I must say I much prefer it all these other stories about standing around with stopwatches and yelling time in the middle of match point or some other such sillyness.

Aren't we in the same area? The convention here is that you get off the court the minute the facility horn blows. The only exception is if you are playing a single sudden-death point per the rules.

You can go ahead and ask to be allowed to finish. If you continue, you will be slicing into the time allotted for the next match. The answer you will get will be "Sorry, no."

And the people who run the facilities? They really don't play around with league players who just need "a few more minutes." I have actually had them snap the lights off exactly at closing time. I swear, we worried we might get locked in for the night. We had to use cell phone light to get to the lobby.

[dcdoorknob]

Originally Posted by Cindysphinx

Aren't we in the same area?

No, don't think so. (the dc in my screen name isn't for our nation's capital...) I'm currently in Oklahoma but most of my league match experience (and what I based my first post on) is from Mississippi, or more specifically Jackson, MS leagues.

That's why I was highlighting how the convention is different there apparently than many other places according to accounts on these boards, and I personally find it to be a much more agreeable convention. Maybe there's something to that 'southern hospitality' idea after all.

[Cindysphinx]

Originally Posted by dcdoorknob

No, don't think so. (the dc in my screen name isn't for our nation's capital...) I'm currently in Oklahoma but most of my league match experience (and what I based my first post on) is from Mississippi, or more specifically Jackson, MS leagues.

That's why I was highlighting how the convention is different there apparently than many other places according to accounts on these boards, and I personally find it to be a much more agreeable convention. Maybe there's something to that 'southern hospitality' idea after all.

Ah, I understand.

I guess your screen name makes some sense. I would hate to see you go by "OKdoorknob." You're probably better than "OK."

[dizzlmcwizzl]

Either you are a stickler and play by the rules or you get fuzzy on the rules and then often people get upset.

I personally would rather have someone upset with me because I adhered to the rules ... as opposed to having someone upset after we mutually agreed to a loosely defined set of rules, on the fly, that worked out to hurt them and help me.


We have pretty tight time constraints and our indoor seasons have very explicit rules on how a match should end.

The scoring is no ad (gender to gender serving at deuce) for the first two sets. If time runs out before completing the second set, the winner is whoever won the first set. The third set is a supertiebreker, first to 10. If time runs out in the supertiebreaker, the winner is whoever is leading. If you are tied in the supertiebreaker when time runs out, you play one point to decide the match. The next regularly scheduled server, serves that point. That serve doesn't have to be gender to gender

[Ironwood]

Originally Posted by dizzlmcwizzl

Either you are a stickler and play by the rules or you get fuzzy on the rules and then often people get upset.

I personally would rather have someone upset with me because I adhered to the rules ... as opposed to having someone upset after we mutually agreed to a loosely defined set of rules, on the fly, that worked out to hurt them and help me.


We have pretty tight time constraints and our indoor seasons have very explicit rules on how a match should end.

The scoring is no ad (gender to gender serving at deuce) for the first two sets. If time runs out before completing the second set, the winner is whoever won the first set. The third set is a supertiebreker, first to 10. If time runs out in the supertiebreaker, the winner is whoever is leading. If you are tied in the supertiebreaker when time runs out, you play one point to decide the match. The next regularly scheduled server, serves that point. That serve doesn't have to be gender to gender

With the tight time constraints of indoor courts, the key as you suggest is a consistent set of rules that are not changed on the fly which is what I got caught up in. And as you suggest, I would rather play one more point to decide the match when tied at time than flip a coin which is what we do. I don't think there has been a coin toss in this current club tournament, but we came close.

[Larrysümmers]

sounds like the lack of communication was on your error.

[goober]

Originally Posted by Ironwood

Not asking for a ruling here, just sharing a ridiculous ending to a club mixed doubles match tiebreaker. Mixed doubles indoor club fun tournament played over one month every Thursday evening, with each match a pro set over a one hour time slot. If tied at the stroke of the hour a coin flip will decide. Leading 4-3 in the deciding tiebreak, time is up, but as the next match is not quite ready to take the court with players still fumbling with gear, we relent and agree to play one more point as there was a little disruption in play just before the the hour struck as the next match walked up between courts to get ready. They win the point to take the (played first to 7) tiebreaker to 4-4. As the next match is still not ready to take the courts, we play on...I presume to finish the tiebreaker, but unbeknownst to me, my female partner has agreed at the net with her female counterpart to play one more point to decide. We loose the point and match. We went from winning on the hour to loosing the match a couple of minutes beyond the alloted time. Can't change anything as my partner did acknowledge agreeing to one more point, which it certainly would have been helpful had I known. Communication, or lack of...this is the stuff that happens at club level!

FUN tournament mixed doubles- who cares? Just laugh it off and make some light hearted jokes at your partner.