Why a half-hour window for the first-match start time in playoffs?

[Zman]

Is there any reasonable way to justify why players can't be told the exact start time of the first match of the day in the playoffs? How is that any different from being told the start time of a regular season match? I understand that matches in the playoffs after the first match of the day will start when courts are available, so for those matches it makes sense to tell players that they should be available a half hour before the scheduled start time. But that logic doesn't apply to the first match of the day, when the USTA knows exactly when the courts will be available, so I don't see why the players can't be told in advance exactly when the first match will start.

 

[OnTheLine]

I guess it would depend on where you live and how early that start time is. (assuming an outdoor court) Assuming it is not actually raining, there may still be dew causing the court to be wet and needing a little time to dry off as the temps rise.

But I can't really defend this as a decent answer.

Are they giving a definitive start time for the captains meeting? Are they giving a definitive time for turning in lineups?

 

[Zman]

7:30am turn in lineups, scheduled start time 8am, match might start up to a half hour before the scheduled start time. Indoors. This seems like a situation where the guy running the show knows in advance exactly when he will do what, but he chooses not to share that information with the people who need it, so they all wind up sitting on their thumbs for half an hour (or gambling that a scheduled 8am start time means the match starts at 8am, despite the rules saying matches might start a half hour ahead of schedule).

 

[ShaunS]

Is there any reasonable way to justify why players can't be told the exact start time of the first match of the day in the playoffs?

There's no good reason for the first match to not have a hard time. I noticed that in the past, and it seemed odd. I assumed they just didn't bother with being more clear about the first match, but I wasn't going to risk showing up later either.

 

[dsp9753]

In the mid-atlantic, the first match always start at 7:30 AM. I am assuming it is written this way so they don't have to write more text/information in the notifications and make sure people arrive on time and ready to go early for each match.

 

[dsp9753]

7:30am turn in lineups, scheduled start time 8am, match might start up to a half hour before the scheduled start time. Indoors. This seems like a situation where the guy running the show knows in advance exactly when he will do what, but he chooses not to share that information with the people who need it, so they all wind up sitting on their thumbs for half an hour (or gambling that a scheduled 8am start time means the match starts at 8am, despite the rules saying matches might start a half hour ahead of schedule).

If you follow the rules, you should be ready to play 30 minutes before any/every match, if you are not and you get called on to play, you will start to receive late penalties.

 

[ShaunS]

Are they giving a definitive start time for the captains meeting? Are they giving a definitive time for turning in lineups?

In my experience with that area, they did not.

If you follow the rules, you should be ready to play 30 minutes before any/every match, if you are not and you get called on to play, you will start to receive late penalties.

Agreed.

The distinction here is that the first matches have, again in my experience, always started right about 8:00am. Yet they request that you're there 30 minutes prior to that, which as @Zman said ends up wasting everyone's time. Depending on the venue, you can warm up on the courts, but when you go indoors that isn't always available.

So I'm having to warmup off-site much earlier then drive over to the match location where my muscles get to tighten up while I wait. Don't you feel bad for me now?

 

[Cindysphinx]

Yeah, I agree, and I don't understand why they abuse us in this way.

I really dislike tournament formats. I am used to knowing exactly when my match will start. The waiting around is awful.

 

[leech]

In my experience (also MidAtlantic), the staff puts on the first matches shortly after 7:30am. Lineups are due by 7:30am, and it takes the staff a few minutes to look over the lineups, but within 5 or so minutes, they start putting out the first group of matches. If you are unlucky enough to be in the final group of matches, it might be 7:45am before you hit the courts.

So, I agree with the OP that this is the way it should be done, and I've observed it being done the last couple of years in the MidAtlantic.

 

[Cindysphinx]

Leech, this must be a change. Last time I captained playoffs, they said that matches started at x time, but your lineup was due 30 minutes ahead.

 

[leech]

Yeah, maybe it was a change in policy, or just that some staff members have different interpretations of the same policy. I'm looking at the scorecard from the 8am match this past Sunday at MXD Regionals, and all three courts got called on at 7:35am.