stressedCaptain
New User
During the second set of a women's 3.0 league doubles match, the two teams got to 6-6. When discussing what to do next, one member from Team X said, "We need to play a tie-breaker", and one member from Team Y said, "No, we need to play another game." The other two members on the court were silent. The member from Team X admits she's not sure what to do, and feels that the member from Team Y seems to know what to do, and agrees to do what she says. So they play another game, which consists of multiple deuces and takes awhile. During the game, the other matches finish and a member from one of the teams begins watching the final game that is going on. Team Y wins the game, and the set. As both teams are leaving the court, the spectator asks what the final score was, and they reply, "6-4, 7-6". The spectator says that doesn't make any sense since they weren't playing a tie-breaker. The captains of both teams are called over, and decide that the last game should not count, and they should play a tie-breaker instead. All agree that the tie-breaker will start at 1-0 in Team Y's favor, since that team won an entire game. Team Y ends up winning the tie-breaker, and therefore, the score of "7-6" stands for the second set.
Both captains are obviously frustrated that their teammates do not know what to do when the score is tied at 6-6. Team X's players have been playing for 6 years, and 2 years. Team Y's players have been playing for 3 years and 1 year. The captains say that they have gone over tie-breakers repeatedly in practice and drills, and find it very difficult to understand how the players did not know what to do. All parties involved agree later that the players should have consulted the captains once the initial disagreement took place.
Having said that, how should this situation have been handled? Specifically, my questions are as follows:
1. Should the initial score stand, since a mistake was made? In the Tennis Rules, there are a few places which address what to do when mistakes are made, and they all say that the scores that were played before the mistake was discovered should stand as is. But does this apply when the scoring is so different -- i.e., a game vs. a tie-breaker?
2. Should the spectator have questioned the score, since spectators are not supposed to be involved at all? Remember the spectator did not get involved until the game (and the match) was supposedly over.
3. Should the tie-breaker have started at 1-0?
4. What should be done about the players not knowing the rules?
Both captains are obviously frustrated that their teammates do not know what to do when the score is tied at 6-6. Team X's players have been playing for 6 years, and 2 years. Team Y's players have been playing for 3 years and 1 year. The captains say that they have gone over tie-breakers repeatedly in practice and drills, and find it very difficult to understand how the players did not know what to do. All parties involved agree later that the players should have consulted the captains once the initial disagreement took place.
Having said that, how should this situation have been handled? Specifically, my questions are as follows:
1. Should the initial score stand, since a mistake was made? In the Tennis Rules, there are a few places which address what to do when mistakes are made, and they all say that the scores that were played before the mistake was discovered should stand as is. But does this apply when the scoring is so different -- i.e., a game vs. a tie-breaker?
2. Should the spectator have questioned the score, since spectators are not supposed to be involved at all? Remember the spectator did not get involved until the game (and the match) was supposedly over.
3. Should the tie-breaker have started at 1-0?
4. What should be done about the players not knowing the rules?
