USTA Singles only and doubles only leagues in the Fall in OC

[socallefty]

In Orange County, the Fall 18+ NTRP league for Men and Women is going to be split into Singles only teams and Doubles only teams. Each match is three lines of singles or doubles for the different leagues. The Local Southern California USTA coordinator told me that it is a non-advancing league with no sectionals and they are trying it out for the first time. So, we no longer have the conventional team with both singles and doubles players and four or five lines. Is any other section trying this?

I‘m thinking of captaining a singles team, but will miss the camaraderie of having doubles lines also and I don’t know if this is a step in the right direction to separate singles and doubles leagues.

 

[Deleted member 776614]

Thank you for doing that! I'm not in CA but I'm eager to see how it goes. After just getting (really) into tennis, I'm now learning how difficult USTA makes it to just play singles. I can ask my local coordinator about doing something like this. If there's anything you'd like me to pass on to her, just let me know.

 

[nyta2]

i think this is a great idea, but i don't think it will be as inclusive as the old format, as there are many more folks that i know who can only play dubs.
adding an additional court may make finding a place to play/schedule harder
eg.
for every gender/age bracket
10 teams playing 5 lines (25 courts to sched) vs.
2x10 teams playing 3 lines (30 courts to sched)
in westchester we found it difficult to find indoor court time already (eg. guaranteed to play rain or shine)... i had to drop captaining my team (fortunately for me ) for a lack of a suitable-to-me, place to play

 

[socallefty]

Thank you for doing that! I'm not in CA but I'm eager to see how it goes. After just getting (really) into tennis, I'm now learning how difficult USTA makes it to just play singles. I can ask my local coordinator about doing something like this. If there's anything you'd like me to pass on to her, just let me know.

It remains to be seen if enough captains are willing to form singles teams in each rating level for Men or Women. Many captains I know are retired people who like to play doubles. They looked at the singles lines as a necessary evil in the past. So, I don’t know if it is going to be popular at all to have singles only teams at many rating levels.

 

[OnTheLine]

I think this is great. I would love to become a better singles player myself. But I always defer to my teammates who really prefer singles so it is very hard to get match playing time in a league match. I will never become better without more matches.

If I were local I would absolutely be putting together a team .... would need a minimum of 6-7 players I would think.

 

[Creighton]

We’ve never had a fall league in South Carolina. We also had singles league as the last league. It has always only advanced to state(district).

 

[Cindysphinx]

We have singles-only leagues in the summer. It has been fairly popular. Enough to keep it going, anyway.