Tournament players are a picky bunch, but I agree with much of what has been said here. I also have a few things to say to both tournament players and the USTA (which, for full disclosure here, I do work for).
1) I think players should really start getting used to adjusted formats for tournaments. Honestly, you hear massive differences across the board on this. But it is clear that tournament numbers are dwindling each year, and people are not playing the old two out of three set, multiple matches per weekend in multiple divisions formats. The problem is people have to be willing to change, and thus far it's not happening en masse. What is happening en masse...is people not playing tournaments.
Tournaments are too expensive people say....but players want amenities and officials. Tournament directors and sites are not going to give up their facility to not make money that weekend and put their members out... if only 35 people are going to sign up and play for an event.
The common refrain is players want to play more matches, but then they pull out of back draw matches, which hurts everyone's player experience. Many players do not want to adjust the full third-set formats, and want to play three divisions. There simply is not enough time and court space to accommodate those players, and the number of people willing to do that is shrinking by the day.
2) Tournament directors and venues MUST promote events with more regularity at their places of play/on their websites/social media and be relentless about it. We do a lot of tournament blasts here, but really not a lot of tournament directors take advantage of it, or even bother to ask us to help promote their event. Many tournament directors literally do nothing but put their event on TennisLink and walk away from it, which is a colossal marketing failure on their part. In this day and age of such digital noise, we have to literally be bombarded with messaging to make the slightest decision to happen. Consistent communication is essential.
When was the last time you had some city employee at a public tennis center ask you if you were interested in playing at the facility? I grew up and worked at a tennis center in Austin, Texas while in college and I guarantee you the director there made it very clear to us that we were to gather information on our players and communicate with them consistently. Ask them about events, leagues, tournaments, other play opportunities. I go to several public facilities here in Phoenix, and the people working the desk at these facilities NEVER ask about stuff like this. The tennis community is small enough everywhere and a little personal interaction and touch goes a long way. Bumps on logs are how many of these guys behind the desk are at clubs. I've seen this be the case literally everywhere in America.
3) TennisLink software is really behind the time for today's needs. One thing I would really like to see is a tiered pricing system, that increases in cost to tournament players the closer it gets to the tournament entry deadline. Running events and many races across the country are like this, and they don't get nearly the number of late entries we get for tennis events.
If you know far enough out that you will be entering, the price break and motivation for early entry should be a reason enough to enter a ways out. Right now, I could enter a tournament like the Fiesta Bowl in December here in Scottsdale today...four months out....for the exactsame price as the guy who hits the button at 11:59 a minute before entry. I think that is a monster deterrent to participation.
Why? Because everyone waits and waits and waits and never do they sign up early enough to start getting some buzz and momentum around a tournament. We have many events where literally half the entries come in on the last day. That is really hard for tournament directors to plan for, but more than anything it hurts the field playing an event more when they look in their division and see no one on Saturday the week before, and then forget about it...then the draw actually made out okay. I see this time and time again. I would encourage everyone to just enter tournaments you're interested in right away. You can always hit the withdrawal button before the entry date closes, and all you're out is the TennisLink fee.
One thing I'd also love for the tournament management software to be able to do is create like a tickler button for those interested in a tournament. Let's say I want to play a tournament in Tucson in November. I'd love it if it put it on my watch list, and then sent me like an app notification or email notification the week before entries closed. Something like "dear tournament player, you had expressed interest in the Tennis 123 Open in Tucson. Entries close this Friday, so don't delay, enter now". Those would be nice reminders that all of us could use!
4) Tournaments really have to find ways to keep people around the tournament and not leave the site. It creates a more festive environment when there are nice crowds. That also attracts sponsors and vendors.
I have recently been in favor of flighting adult tournaments similar to a USTA league championship. Say it's a seven person draw in an event like Men's 4.0 singles or Women's 35 singles....maybe split it in a three and four pool. Top seed gets the three side, so he/she plays two matches to get to the final to play the opposite side. Everyone gets at least two guaranteed matches, and people have a reason to stay around the event. Better yet, more play!!!
Definitely need to keep the atmosphere more lively, more social (more beer!). One of my friends runs tournaments where he has what he calls the "losers consolation" cooler. You win, you keep playing. You lose, you get a beer. It's actually pretty humorous and very fun. I love stuff like that.
There's probably so much more I could go into, but I'd end up with carpal tunnel typing it all. Let's keep the discussion rolling.
