40 & Over 4.0 Men Nationals - 2-2 "wins" played a critical role

[schmke]

Four 4-0 teams through to the semis, so seems simple on the surface. But a few interesting things.

There were only two 3-1 teams, one of them, Texas, lost a 2-2 match to Eastern where the lost the tie-breaker by 2 games. Texas won a set 6-4 in a win where winning it 6-2 would have had them win the team match and also be 4-0, and then Middlewest would have gone home as a 4-0 team.

Middlewest won a 2-2 match, but they won their matches in straights and lost both in match TBs, so won the sets tie-break easily.

New England is 4-0 and won a 2-2 match also winning and straights and losing both in match TBs.

 

[Creighton]

I used to hate the idea of the 4 games. But watching my friends make it to the semifinals of nationals from a very small tennis area has kind of changed the appeal.

They only have one player who is clearly out of level with no business at 3.5. So the ability to tie matches at 2-2 and win them has really added some parity to league tennis.

 

[OnTheLine]

I used to hate the idea of the 4 games. But watching my friends make it to the semifinals of nationals from a very small tennis area has kind of changed the appeal.

They only have one player who is clearly out of level with no business at 3.5. So the ability to tie matches at 2-2 and win them has really added some parity to league tennis.

I had never thought about this travesty in those terms. But yes, sometimes in a 2-2 situation the team with less depth can pull out a win ... as long as they don't get blitzed on any given court.

 

[schmke]

I had never thought about this travesty in those terms. But yes, sometimes in a 2-2 situation the team with less depth can pull out a win ... as long as they don't get blitzed on any given court.

I've actually thought it would be harder for teams without depth because they are more likely to get blitzed on the court they have to put their weaker line-up on. This immediately puts them behind on the tie-breakers should it be a 2-2 tie.

 

[Creighton]

I've actually thought it would be harder for teams without depth because they are more likely to get blitzed on the court they have to put their weaker line-up on. This immediately puts them behind on the tie-breakers should it be a 2-2 tie.

If your 4th line was going to get blitzed, your 5th line would assuredly be blitzed so that's already 0-2.

With the 4 lines, you just need one stud at singles and one stud doubles line. Then your third line just needs to splits sets and you're golden. The fourth line doesn't even matter at that point.

 

[schmke]

Then your third line just needs to splits sets and you're golden.

And if they don't, you are dead with the 4th line being blitzed.

 

[Creighton]

And if they don't, you are dead with the 4th line being blitzed.

Yeah but if your third line wasn't even good enough to split sets, how were you ever going to win 3 points?

 

[socallefty]

The philosophical question is if rules should be such that it gives the best chance for the strongest team with the maximum number of better players to win or if you want to give underdog teams more of a chance? I vote for the first as it is a competition.

But, I think USTA level-based leagues and tournaments are a made-up artificial competition anyway especially at the national level. I like Open tournaments for different age groups if you are going to have national level competitions.

Ratings-based leagues are good at the local level to give people a chance to play same-level players, but giving out national champion titles for 2.5, 3.0, 3.5 levels etc. seems weird.

 

[schmke]

Ratings-based leagues are good at the local level to give people a chance to play same-level players, but giving out national champion titles for 2.5, 3.0, 3.5 levels etc. seems weird.

It is a double edged sword. Having Nationals is a differentiator for the USTA versus other leagues, and is a reason some players are attracted to it. But doing a national champ with arbitrary level based leagues is the root of some of the issues we see with league play.

 

[schmke]

Five of the eight 40 & Over semis today were 2-2 ties. One went to the 1 doubles winner tie-breaker. It is really to be expected as come Nationals semis, the teams should be closely matched and this is going to happen more often than not.

 

[J_R_B]

The 40s version of the Middle States team was only 2-2, but the Eastern NJ team was captained by their top singles player and also siphoned away one of their top doubles players as well. Plus, a couple of their best players weren't playing, possibly choosing this weekend's 18s over 40s, I guess. The result is that they had a short lineup and many guys played a lot of tennis. One of their doubles players is almost 70. He played all 4 matches and won the first one each day and lost the second.