Do you have local league procedures/rules to address rain delays? Please update regarding the grievance. Shenanigans are unacceptable!! LOL! You could use this as a starting point to hash out some fair procedures and rules.
An entire team walks off the court...need help with USTA rules
- Thread starter Aztennisgal
- Start date
Aztennisgal
New User
No
We do but it wasn’t raining that day. Clear, sunny and being in the desert the water dries in minutes. The update is that the local league coordinator is making us reschedule. We even cc’d her manager, our tennis director spoke to her manager and they are not budging. At this point, we will play them and embarrass the hell out of them. This team is from a country club and acted like they were trying out for the next Real Housewives. We are now trying to write a grievance on the league coordinator.
So each team member pays about $45 a year for USTA yearly fees, usually teams have about 16 players x $45, so about 2 teams is ~32 players x $45 in yearly fees, then you pay $25 in league fees x 32 players (or figure out how many teams) Then you pay court fees. So for all those fees the USTA just says go out and play and figure it yourself. You are paying 3x fees, yearly, league and court fees if you go to sectionals or nationals you can be nickel and dimed 5x
WTF is all that money going. I've played league basketball, volleyball and we get a ref for each I don't have to pay some encompassing body to register or pay a US Basketball Association yearly fee and I get 2 refs for basketball and 1 for volleyball.
The NY Times did a piece and where the money goes or vanishes
Sports of The Times; An Open Secret: Follow The Cash (Published 2003)
Selena Roberts Sports of The Times column contends United States Tennis Association, non-profit organization that oversees United States Open, overspends in certain areas, like executive salaries, and underspends in others, like weather-proofing measures; photo (M)
GatorTennis
Rookie
If courts are available, all courts should start at the same time, hence the 15 min DQ rule. Captains can always agree to something else.
Cindysphinx
G.O.A.T.
Weird.
You needed to have five courts ready to go at whatever time your league rules say. If there were any puddles on any courts, you lose. That a pro was willing to stand on a court with a puddle and feed balls does not help your cause.
I side with your opponents. I would be annoyed if I showed up at your courts and you hadn’t dried them and were talking to me about dry desert air.
You needed to have five courts ready to go at whatever time your league rules say. If there were any puddles on any courts, you lose. That a pro was willing to stand on a court with a puddle and feed balls does not help your cause.
I side with your opponents. I would be annoyed if I showed up at your courts and you hadn’t dried them and were talking to me about dry desert air.
You dodge a bazooka sized bullet, the money pit, drama and shennigans of USTA. If you've got a few good friends that hit it's way less money, less drama and easier to schedule. Avoid the dark side.
Flootoo
Semi-Pro
So basically the courts weren't ready when the visitors showed up. They are being petty, probably. But within their rights.
The Home team knew the puddles were minor, the Visitors don't know the courts like the Home team does. If it was a matter of just a few minutes, the Home team should have done it before the Visitors showed up. Don't give them an excuse.
The Home team knew the puddles were minor, the Visitors don't know the courts like the Home team does. If it was a matter of just a few minutes, the Home team should have done it before the Visitors showed up. Don't give them an excuse.
tennis tom
Legend
Are there rollers on the court? Where I play and at most community courts there are rollers hung on the fence at each court or at least a couple at a decently maintained community court complex. If you want to play tennis you grab the rollers and start rolling (then some a-hole comes around and tries stealing your court that you've just dried--wave your stick at them menacingly and they'll usually back-off and retreat out the gate). Rolling a court is not that hard to learn to do--you spread out the puddles away from the center of the court towards the outside. If you're rolling a whole court starting in the middle working in a circular pattern is the most efficient, pushing the h20 outwards away towards the sidelines. "Lakes" or puddles should be spread out and then the sun will quickly evaporate the remainder especially if it's a porous surface like deco-turf. A couple of people with rollers can do a totally soaked court in 10-15 minutes--a few puddles in mere moments. Sounds like no one knew the fundamentals of Court Rolling 101. The visiting team was more interested in strategizing their league stats towards becoming the best of the mediocre nationally than PLAYING TENNIS!--what a waste of tennis time, not to mention contributing to GW driving about the countryside for naught. This should be the talk around the bar for weeks to come--what I want to know is what happened to the food?--donated to a food bank?
One last question. Did you only have those 5 courts for a certain time? So if you had started 3 lines on the dry courts, would the other two lines have time to play their match after one of those were done or when the other courts were completely dry? If you had the courts indefinitely, the only reason they left is because they didn't have their strongest team that day and knew they had to win all 5 lines. Maybe guys are different. We'd do whatever possible to avoid having to reschedule any matches.
am1899
Legend
I fear you will find out that doing so will have been a waste of your time and money, and you will have made more enemies than friends in the process.
bobleenov1963
Hall of Fame
People take things too seriously. The most important thing here is to have fun. If you win, great. If not, life goes on. It is not like your salary depends on winning matches, LOL....
GrassCourtFan
Legend
Nah, I've been playing USTA for a while now and IMO all the drama on the forums is pretty rare to encounter in actual play. USTA is a fun way to get to play new people and find good competition.
GatorTennis
Rookie
it's pretty common in women's tennis. as a matter of fact, more drama will start next week when rating drop. it's always drama with them
Jack the Hack
Hall of Fame
Good luck! I hope you kick their asses.
They were wrong and the USTA Local Coordinator let them get away with it.
ACSTracker
New User
This entire post is why I stopped playing USTA Team/League matches over 20 years ago. Tennis is supposed to be fun.
schmke
Legend
Agreed. In my area, if a team has a full default, all of their matches are changed to be full defaults so all teams are on equal footing for standings/tie-breakers. There may be unintended consequences from doing it.
The Middle States rules say that any team that advances because of a full team default will have to play a playoff match with the other team involved. It also says that any team that forfeits a full team match cannot compete in the league for the next season, so if this was entered in this case, there is far more incentive for the team on the forfeiting end to come to the table and play under any circumstances. That is why I mentioned it as a leverage tactic.
RyanRF
Professional
I guess I just don't understand the issue here. The courts were wet, so the match was cancelled. You guys will play some other time when the courts are dry.
It sounds like you are disappointed you couldn't take advantage of their missing player. Why would you want this? Wouldn't you want to put your best against theirs and see who comes out on top?
It sounds like you are disappointed you couldn't take advantage of their missing player. Why would you want this? Wouldn't you want to put your best against theirs and see who comes out on top?
Jack the Hack
Hall of Fame
To summarize, the issue was:
- It was a sunny day and three courts were completely dry and ready to be played on.
- There were two additional courts that had a few wet spots, but the teams couldn't go on those courts right away to towel them off ahead of time because there was a teaching pro using them that morning when they arrived.
- The home team was in the #1 position in the standings, and visiting team needed to win all 5 matches to make playoffs, but were missing their two best singles players.
- Both teams had taken the time from their day, driven across town, and were at the facility to play.
- 30 minutes before the match, the visiting captain threw a fit and refused to play any matches (even starting the ones on the 3 dry courts) due to having to wait a few extra minutes to towel off the two slightly wet ones.
- Visiting captain wasted everyone's time, and the thread poster feels that she did this on purpose in order to mess with the home team and delay the match for a more favorable time where her best players are available.
- Local USTA League coordinator is letting visiting captain get away with bad sportsmanship and potentially dubious tactics.
