Breaking News - USTA League 2018 Nationals Schedule Released - Texas and Las Vegas added to the mix!

It was just brought to my attention that the schedule and locations for 2018 USTA League Nationals has shown up in places.  The link on TennisLink to the Nationals schedule still goes to the 2017 schedule, but the site I was pointed to is a USTA site so I have no reason to believe it isn't accurate.  And last year the schedule showed up in early January so the timing is similar.

So yes, we are talking about 2018 Nationals already!

After the weather related fiascos of this year including many delays, shortening of matches to pro-sets, short sets, and no-ad scoring, and even declaring co-champs when semis and finals couldn't be played, and yes, no semis meant as many as four co-champs, I'm sure many are wanting to see if there are any changes, and there are!

First, here is the schedule:

Date	Location	Surface	Event
Oct. 5-7	Orlando, FL	Hard	18 & over 5.0+
Oct. 5-7	Arlington, TX	Hard	18 & over 4.0
Oct. 12-14	Orlando, FL	Hard	18 & over 3.5 and 2.5W
Oct. 12-14	Las Vegas, NV	Hard	18 & over 3.0
Oct. 12-14	Arlington, TX	Hard	18 & over 4.5
Oct. 19-21	Las Vegas, NV	Hard	40 & over 4.5+
Oct. 19-21	Arlington, TX	Hard	40 & over 3.5
Oct. 19-21	Orlando, FL	Clay	55 & over 6.0 and 8.0
Oct. 26-28	Las Vegas, NV	Hard	40 & over 4.0
Oct. 26-28	Mobile, AL	Hard	40 & over 3.0
Oct. 26-28	Orlando, FL	Clay	55 & over 7.0 and 9.0
Nov. 9-11	Mobile, AL	Hard	Mixed 18 & over 6.0 thru 10.0
Nov. 16-18	Orlando, FL	Hard	Mixed 40 & over 6.0 thru 9.0

As far as the age groups go, this is a similar schedule to 2017 and past years with 18+ going first, then 40+, and then 55+ and Mixed.

Regarding locations, Mobile is unfortunately still a host site but will be used just twice, 40+ 3.0 and 18+ Mixed, although it is all of 18+ Mixed so should there be any bad weather that weekend, a lot of tennis could be impacted.

But the big news is two new sites that haven't been used recently, or perhaps ever, in Arlington and Las Vegas.  But Arizona is now completely missing, California is still missing, and Ft. Lauderdale is gone after one year and significant delays due to weather.

In adding Vegas and Arlington, the USTA was perhaps reading my blog and saw the poll I did earlier this year where response was that Las Vegas and Texas should be added in the future!

Note that as you might expect, Orlando means the USTA National Campus.  Las Vegas will be at the Darling Tennis Center, Arlington will be at the Arlington Tennis Center, and Mobile is where it has always been.

I think this is an improvement over last year, while Mobile still shows up it is limited to two weekends and Ft. Lauderdale is gone.  I think Vegas makes sense and Arlington does too.  It is still a little disappointing to not have Arizona or California in the rotation, but this does have some events in the West or Central regions making the travel requirements for folks a little more balanced.

There you have it, what do you think?