PNW 40 & Over Sectionals are done - Who is going to Nationals?

It is late August, which means PNW Sectionals for the 18 & Over and 40 & Over divisions have been played, so it is time to take a look at who is going to Nationals.

The 18 & Over was played a few weeks ago, here is who made the final and advanced for the 40 & Over.

• 2.5 Women - NWW-BTA-Hsu and NWW-AYTC-Tibbetts each won their flights 3-0, then BTA-Hsu won the final 3-0.  Note this is not a Nationals event.
• 2.5 Men - NWW-ETC-Box won the flight going 4-0.  Note this is not a Nationals event.
• 3.0 Women - N OR-MAC-Nguyen and SWW-TLTC-Paul each won their flights 3-0 before MAC-Nguyen won the final 4-0.
• 3.0 Men - NWW-WSC-Shen and NWW-STC-Wood won their flights each 3-0, then WSC-Shen won the final 3-1.
• 3.5 Women - N OR-PTC-Hill and SWW-LRC-Hudson won their flights 3-0 and 2-1 respectively, then PTC-Hill won the final 3-1.
• 3.5 Men - N OR-CRRC-Johnson and SWW-JTC-Severns won their flights 3-0, then CRRC-Johnson won the final 2-2 coming down to a 2 game differential to break the tie.
• 4.0 Women - N OR-MPRC-Huynh and SWW-TLTC-Simonson won their flights 3-0, then TLTC-Simonson won the final 3-1.
• 4.0 Men - N OR-PTC-Greenberg and SWW-JTC-White won their flights 2-1 and 3-0, then JTC-White won the final 2-2 by eight games in the tie-breaker.
• 4.5 Women - NWW-EDG-Allen and NWW-NTC-Wilson won their flights 3-0, with NTC-Wilson winning the final 3-1.
• 4.5 Men - N OR-PTC-Borosky and N OR-CAC-McGarity won their flights 3-0, then CAC-McGarity won the final 3-1.

Just a couple of finals came down to 2-2 ties, but quite a few more in round-robin did.

As far as what area won the most, the tallies are:

• NOR (Portland) - 5
• NWW (Seattle) - 4
• SWW (Tacoma/Olympia) - 1

More balanced than 18 & Over was.

Congratulations to all the Sectional Champs!

PNW 18 & Over Sectionals are complete - Who is going to Nationals?

It is late August, which means PNW Sectionals for the 18 & Over and 40 & Over divisions have been played, so it is time to take a look at who is going to Nationals.

The 18 & Over was played a few weeks ago, here is who made the final and advanced.

• 2.5 Women - NWW-ETC-Hsu and NOR-IRV-Sebastian each went 3-0 in their flight and then NWW won the final 2-1.
• 2.5 Men - Two NWW teams, HBSQ-Reda and MI-Chang won their flights 3-0 and HBSQ-Reda won the final 3-0.  Note that 2.5 men is not a Nationals event so they are not headed there.
• 3.0 Women - NWW-RBW-Chau and NWW-AYTC-Tong each went 3-0, and in the final AYTC-Tong won 4-1.
• 3.0 Men - EW-PC-Bjella and NOR-THPRD-Kadam/Udyavara each won 3-0 with NOR winning the final 4-1.
• 3.5 Women - NWW-WSC-Hashimoto and NWW-ETC-Zhu won their flights 3-0, then ETC-Zhu won the final 3-2.
• 3.5 Men - NWW-WSC-Yue and NOR-SHC-Lumetta won their flights each 3-0, then WSC-Yue won the final 4-1.
• 4.0 Women - SWW-TLTC-Mettler and EW-IND-Rose each won their flights 3-0, with TLTC-Mettler winning the final 4-1.
• 4.0 Men - NWW-TUK-Newman and NWW-WSC-Low went 2-1 and 3-0 respectively, with TUK-Newman winning the final 4-1.
• 4.5 Women - NOR-VTC-Mikalatos and NOR-THPRD-Ly went 3-0 each, then VTC-Mikalatos won the final 3-2.
• 4.5 Men - EW-PFC-Griner and NWW-TCSP-Liu each went 3-0, with TCSP-Liu winning the final 5-0.
• 5.0 Women - NOR-PTC-Kowalewski won the single flight going 3-1 and beating out NWW-AYTC-Kohrs on the courts tie-breaker.
• 5.0 Men - NWW-MI-Condiotty won the single flight going 4-0.

It is interesting that only in two cases did a flight winner not go undefeated, and one of those the flight win was mostly wrapped up before the loss, and in the other the flight winner just needed one court in their last match.  Also, just three of the ten finals were won by one court.  So I'm sure there was some drama in individual matches, but in the standings and finals, not so much.

As far as what area won the most, the tallies are:

• NWW (Seattle) - 8
• NOR (Portland) - 3
• SWW (Tacoma/Olympia) - 1

That is pretty typical for 18 & Over that Seattle wins the most.

Congratulations to all the Sectional Champs!

Pacific Northwest USTA League Sectionals / Playoff Update

This is a busy time of year for USTA League tennis as the current year has a flurry of playoffs, Districts, States, and Sectionals, and in those areas with Early Start Leagues, those are about to get started.  This is happening across all 17 sections, especially with Sectionals for 18 & Over and 40 & Over being completed or played very soon, and the PNW is no exception.

Over the past few weeks there has been just in my area/section:

• 18 & Over Sectionals in Portland two weeks ago
• 40 & Over Mixed local playoffs in Seattle a week ago
• 55 & Over Mixed local playoffs in Seattle a week ago
• One Doubles local playoffs in Seattle a week ago
• 40 & Over Sectionals in Portland this weekend

I was fortunate to be on teams involved in three of those, and had friends/family playing in all of them, a busy few weekends.

The weather did play a part in some of the events.  18 & Over Sectionals had great weather with sun and 80s or even 90s, but last weekend there was some rain Sunday causing some disruption to matches and scrambling to find indoor courts, but the USTA and volunteer staff did a great job of getting everything in.

I was at 40 & Over Sectionals this past weekend and the forecast looked ominous as we neared the event with a good chance of rain Friday.  Thankfully the USTA planned ahead and had enough indoor courts available that they were able to make the call to play pro-sets and juggle the schedule a bit to get all of the Friday matches in.  There was rain early in the morning, and then a few showers so while some play could have occurred outside, it would have been interrupted and hectic while the adjusted indoor schedule went smoothly.  The rest of the weekend was fine with just a short delay Saturday morning as the courts had to try from a brief overnight shower.

What areas won Sectionals this year?

For the 18 & Over we had:

• 2.5 women - Eastern Washington/Deery beat Northern Oregon/Shin 2-1 in the final
• 2.5 men - Northwest Washington/Li won the round-robin going 4-0
• 3.0 women - NWW/Kim beat NOR/Agrawal in the final 3-2
• 3.0 men - NWW/Box beat NWW/Wang 5-0 in the final
• 3.5 women - NWW/Hawkins beat NWW/Lee 4-1 in the final
• 3.5 men - NWW/Powers beat NWW/Mar 4-1 in the final
• 4.0 women - Southwest Washington/Mettler beat Alaska/Welch 3-2 in the final
• 4.0 men - NWW/Maki beat NWW/Low 3-2 in the final
• 4.5 women - NOR/Affentranger beat NOR/Graham 3-2 in the final
• 4.5 men - NWW/Huang beat NWW/Liu 3-2 in the final
• 5.0 women - NOR/Donato won the round-robin going 3-0
• 5.0 men - NWW/Condiotty beat NWW/Purohit 3-0 in the final

So NWW took 8 of the 12.

In the 40 & Over this was the result:

• 2.5 women - SWW/Oie beat EW/Brown 2-1 in the final
• 2.5 men - NWW/Li won the round-robin 3-0
• 3.0 women - NWW/Perret beat NOR/Lee 2-2 on the games tie-breaker (4) in the final
• 3.0 men - NWW/Wang beat NWW/Khullar 3-1 in the final
• 3.5 women - NOR/Cowling beat NWW/Holland 3-1 in the final
• 3.5 men - NOR/Larsen beat NWW/Agrawal 2-2 on the sets tie-breaker (1) in the final
• 4.0 women - Southern Oregon/Kelly beat NOR/Huynh 3-1 in the final
• 4.0 men - NWW/Sharma beat NWW/Robey 3-1 in the final
• 4.5 women - NWW/Corsano beat NWW/Lao 2-2 on the sets tie-breaker (1) in the final
• 4.5 men - NOR/Borosky beat NOR/McGarity 2-2 on the games tie-breaker (3) in the final

Here NWW took 5 of the 10.

And yes, our section still uses 1 singles and 3 doubles for 40 & Over so we have to deal with the 2-2 ties.  And some of the 3-1 wins were exceedingly close with match tie-breaks being two of the wins where either going the other way would have reversed the result with the 2-2 tie going to the other team on the games tie-breaker.  Very close!

And there are more Sectionals coming up with Mixed 40 & Over and Mixed 55 & Over in just over three weeks.

Congratulations to all that played, competed, and won!

Pacific Northwest Local Playoff Survey - Change the format?

A few weeks ago, the league coordinators in the Northern Oregon (Portland) and Northwest Washington (Seattle) areas sent out a survey on the playoff format used for local playoffs.

This is a topic because 4 years ago the playoff format was changed from a traditional single elimination draw to having a "first place" draw and "second place" draw where the first place draw final loser got a second chance of advancing to Sectionals by playing the second place draw winner to determine the wildcard.

Note: The teams advancing to local playoffs are the top-2 teams in each sub-flight, thus the first and second place teams noted.

The reason this was done is because both areas send two teams to Sectionals and in the prior traditional single elimination format, both teams that make the final know they are going to Sectionals making the final somewhat meaningless.  In an effort to make the matches all have meaning, the new format was introduced.

Some weren't fond of the format and apparently enough gave feedback to the coordinators that a survey with three options was offered to get feedback.  The survey is now closed, but the results and decision have not been published yet.  Still, I thought it would be useful to look at the options and do some analysis of them.

The survey had a link to a description of the options so take a look at that for all the details.  But a summary of the options is:

• Option A - Current format, first place teams draw, winner goes to sectionals, loser plays winner of second place teams draw for wildcard
• Option B - Alternate multi-draw format where just top-two (in the example) or four teams (presumably if applicable) go into the first place teams draw to avoid having byes to deal with, but otherwise the same as option A.
• Option C - Traditional single elimination draw as it used to be.

I thought it would be useful to do some analysis to see what the real (dis)advantage was for each team.

The issue with option A is that when there aren't two (or four) first place teams, both draws end up having team(s) that get a bye, e.g. in a three sub-flight situation there are three first place teams (and three second place teams) each draw has one team with a bye which is perhaps not equitable as two first place teams have to play a first match while the highest seeded second place team gets a bye.  Here is an example draw.

So, would you rather be the #2 or #3 seeds (2nd or 3rd first place team) having to play a first place team and win to stay in it, or the #4 seed (1st second place team) with a bye and getting to play the winner of two second place teams?

I created a simulation with the draw scenarios, and as a baseline first said all the teams were equal and there was a 50% chance of any team winning head to head.  When this is done, the chances of advancing to Sectionals was:

• #1 seed - 75%
• #2 and #3 seeds - 37.5%
• #4 seed - 25%
• #5 and #6 seeds - 12.5%

So it is better to be the #2 or #3 seeds simply because if you win the first match, you do get the second chance at advancing if you lose the first place final.  But it is somewhat close to the #4 seed getting the bye.  And there is a clear advantage to being the #1 seed.

But if the three sub-flights aren't really equal (they never are) and the #4 seed is actually a very strong team and just happened to be beat by another really strong team in their flight to be in second place, and the #3 seed came from a weak flight where the #3 team isn't that strong, a reasonable scenario plays out as:

• #1 seed - 79.9%
• #2 seed - 46.1%
• #3 seed - 28.5%
• #4 seed - 29.7%
• #5 seed - 7.9%
• #6 seed - 7.9%

Here the #4 seed has a slightly better chance than the #3 seed.

The other perhaps inequitable aspect of this format is that the #1 seed could be #1 simply because they had a weaker flight compared to the #2 seed so has a better standings record, but they get a huge advantage and can even lose their first match and not be eliminated.  Every other team has to win their first match.  This doesn't seem quite fair.

Option B aims to address this last point by putting the #1 and #2 seed on equal footing so just one team doesn't have the huge advantage.  This is how that looks.

This avoids any byes which seems like a good thing, but it is a big disadvantage to be the #3 seed.  This is a first place team and perhaps is the #3 seed simply because they were in the toughest flight.  But they will be required to win three in a row despite being a first place team, while the other two first place teams get a huge advantage of only having to win one match and not being out of it if they lose their first match.

Here is the equal chance of each team winning advance percentages:

• 1st and 2nd seeds - 75%
• 3rd thru 6th seeds - 12.5%

This is a huge difference and advantage to being the top-2 seeds.  To me that seems too extreme, particularly for the #3 seed to be shunted into a draw with no built-in advantage over a bunch of second  place teams, one of which the #3 seed had to play and probably beat in their sub-flight already.

Last, option C is a traditional single elimination draw with byes for the top-2 seeds, but no second chance if they lose.  This is what it looks like:

Here is how the advance percentages play out with an equal chance of each team winning a match.

• 1st and 2nd seeds - 50%
• 3rd thru 6th seeds - 25%

Being a top-2 seed has a built-in advantage, but it is not nearly as big as for option B.  This seems more equitable to me and doesn't penalize the #3 seed nearly as much.

Of course option C has the original issue (if you consider it one) of the final not having any impact on advancing.  It only decides who the local champion is, and ensures the winner won't be in the flight at Sectionals with the other main area winner, i.e. the Sectionals flights always have the Seattle winner in a flight with the 2nd place Portland team, and Portland winner in a flight with the Seattle 2nd place team.

I think there are two ways to address this issue.

First, just accept it doesn't have much meaning and play it anyway, or perhaps don't even play the match which saves having to schedule the finals which reduces the demand for courts (a good thing for facilities).  If it isn't played, flip a coin to determine Sectionals flights.

Second, create more incentive to win the final.  It could be monetary, something like waiving the team fee for local playoffs for the winner, or a more significant trophy for being the winner, or be creative coming up with something else.

What do you think?  What would you, or did you vote for and why?

I voted for option C, and while not asked, would advocate creating more incentive to win to make the final meaningful.

2024 Seattle Area 40 & Over Playoffs - Any 4-court 2-2 ties?

The past two weekends saw the Seattle area 40 & Over local playoffs take place.  While the National format for 40 & Over has gone back to a 5-court format (1 singles and 4 doubles), the Pacific Northwest Section is sticking with the prior 4-court format for this year at least.

That means we continue to live with the possibility of 2-2 ties, and with playoffs, important matches that decide who will advance are being decided by the tie-breakers.  How many did we have the past few weekends?

There were a total of 46 team matches played over the two weekends, and of those, 14 (30%) were tied on courts.  Of those 14, five (36%) were tied on sets.

Taking a look at those five:

• Women's 3.0 - Each team won a match in straights and a match in a super tie-break.  There was a single game difference, a 6-2 vs a 6-3 set.  Had both of those been 6-3, it would have gone to the court 1 doubles winner and the team win would have swapped.
• Women's 3.0 - All courts in straights, two for each team, singles won 6-1,6-1 which resulted in a 6 game difference.
• Women's 4.0 - All courts in straights, two for each team, one team (A) had a 6-1 set, the other (B) had a 6-0 set, but the 6-0 set wasn't enough for team B as they had a 7-6 set vs team A having a 6-3 set to counter it, one game better for team A and the win.  Had team B won one more game, it would have gone to the court 1 doubles winner and team B would have won.
• Women's 4.0 - Each team won a match in straights and a match in a super tie-break.  Singles was won 6-1,6-1 by one team and that contributed to a three game difference giving them the win and a spot at Sectionals.
• Men's 4.0 - Each team won a match in straights and a match in a super tie-break.  Team A had an advantage in the straight set comparison being a game better, but team B won a 6-0 set and a 6-1 set to contribute to a four game difference and the team win.  This match decided the wildcard winner and a spot at Sectionals.

Some very close matches, two were just one game away from the result being reversed.  And two of these 2-2 ties were for a spot to advance to Sectionals.

Sectionals will continue to use the 4-court format, we'll see how things go there.

Seattle and Portland split the 2023 Pacific Northwest 40 & Over Sectional champions.

The Pacific Northwest section held their 18 & Over Sectionals two weeks ago and Seattle area teams romped and are sending the Section's representative at every gender and level.  The 40 & Over Sectionals was this weekend and the same thing did not occur.

The women's 2.5 had Portland's MAC face Southwest Washington's JTC with MAC taking the title.

The men's 2.5 was a round-robin with two Seattle and two Portland teams, the Seattle teams finished first and second with ETC beating our CAC/Silver Lake.

The women's 3.0 had Seattle's Mercer Island facing Portland's WHRC in the final and Mercer Island taking the 3-1 win and heading to Nationals.

For the 3.0 men, two Seattle teams faced off with Central Park facing Mercer Island and Mercer Island taking the 3-1 win for a clean sweep of 3.0 for Mercer Island teams.

At 3.5, the women's final had Seattle's TCSP playing Portland's GLVR with TCSP taking the 3-1 win.

The 3.5 men had two Portland teams facing off with  IRV and MAC playing in the final, and MAC winning 3-1.

The women's 4.0 had another Mercer Island team from Seattle face Portland's LOTC with LOTC coming out on top 3-1.

The men's 4.0 saw GTC from Southwest Washington face BETC from Seattle and BETC took the 2-2 win by extending one of their lost courts to a super tie-break.

The 4.5 women had two Portland teams make the final with GLVR taking the 3-1 win over SHC.

The 4.5 men also had two Portland teams face off in the final, MAC beating UP 2-2 due to extending a lost court to  a super tie-break.

Last, there was a 5.0 men's round-robin where Seattle Forest Crest went 3-0 against three other Portland teams.

The result is at the four advancing levels (3.0 thru 4.5), Seattle won four and Portland won four, so very balanced between the two largest districts in the section.  If you count the 2.5 and 5.0 levels, Seattle did come out ahead  6-5.

Congratulations to all the teams headed to Nationals!

Seattle area teams sweep PNW 2023 18 & Over Sectionals

The 18 & Over Sectionals for Pacific Northwest were held this weekend, and remarkably the Seattle area teams (Northwest Washington) pulled of the clean sweep and in fact in most cases both finalists were from Seattle.

The 2.5 women saw two Seattle teams make the final, but WSC did it with a 2-1 record winning the tie-breaker over a Portland team at 2-1, and Mercer Island won the final 2-1 to punch their ticket to Nationals.

The 2.5 men had just four teams so just played round-robin and Seattle teams took first and second, ETC ahead of Columbia Silver Lake.  There is no Nationals at this level however, so just a Sectionals title.

The 3.0 women found Seattle teams ETC and Mercer Island in the final, each winning their flights with 3-0 records, and ETC took the title with a 4-1 win.

The 3.0 men also had Seattle teams in the final with TCSP and ETC meeting up having both gone 3-0, and TCSP took the 3-2 win to be heading to Nationals.

The 3.5 women had the first non-Seattle team in a final with Portland's MAC facing off against AYTC from Seattle, and AYTC won 5-0.

The 3.5 men was back to two Seattle teams with Forest Crest winning over Mill Creek 3-2 in the final.

The 4.0 women saw Southwest Washington (Tacoma/Olympia) make an appearance in a final facing off against AYTC from Seattle, and AYTC won 3-2.

The 4.0 men found two Seattle teams in the final, RBW who went 2-1 in their flight against BETC who went 3-0, and RBW came out on top with a 4-1 win.

The 4.5 women had Southern Oregon make a finals showing facing off against NTC from Seattle, and NTC won 4-1.

The 4.5 men had two Seattle teams play in the final with WSC taking the title over AYTC.

For the 5.0 women, there was just one flight and round-robin play where AYTC from Seattle won over SHC from Portland.

Last, the 5.0 men was also round-robin and had perhaps the most competitive event with Mercer Island, the sole representative from Seattle vs three from Portland, being tied with THPRD from Portland tying at 2-1 and 5-4 on courts with the other two Portland teams at 1-2 and 4-5 on courts.  But Mercer Island won the head to head match with THPRD and took the title.

Congratulations to all the winners.  Good luck at Nationals!

A subtle rule change for PNW I missed until this weekend!

Each year when USTA League regulations are published, I review for changes and share what I see on my blog.  I don't read every section's regulations to see what they have changed, but usually look at my section (PNW) but apparently didn't for 2022 as there was a rule change I missed!

The rule has to do with how three-strike DQs are handled during playoffs and Sectionals.  Specifically, the National regulations give sections two options of what to do, those being to check strikes after each match and DQ the player and reverse results at that event, or to only check strikes after the finish of the event and DQ the player going forward but let the matches played at that event stand.

In the past, PNW elected the first option, and strikes were checked after each match.  This meant that if a player got their third-strike in their first match, they'd be ineligible for the rest of the event, and if they won their match it would be reversed.

It also meant that if a player got their third-strike in their last/third match in their flight, and they'd won all three matches and their team had won all the matches 3-2 and won their flight, this would all be reversed.  The player would be ineligible going forward, but each of those 3-2 wins would be reverse to 3-2 losses and that team that won the flight would in fact now be 0-3.

This seems pretty severe, and can have a major impact on a team and the standings, but in my opinion seemed fair as the team had benefited from a player that has been deemed to be out of level, so taking away that benefit seemed equitable and fair to the opponents.

Well, for 2022 PNW has changed the rule for Sectionals and now they will only check strikes after the event is over and all matches played stand.  For local playoffs, the prior rule is still in effect.

Here are the two rules, first for local playoffs:

2.04B(2)a1 (PNW REG) - Dynamic rating calculations will be run throughout play at all Local League Playoffs.

And for Sectionals:

2.04B(2)b1 (PNW REG) - Dynamic rating calculations will be run after the conclusion of all Sectional Championships

I am not a fan of this change an don't know what prompted it, but have asked.  Should I find out I will share what I hear.

The reasons I don't like it include:

• A team that has hidden out of level players during the regular season can let them loose in every match at Sectionals with no fear of implications for the team.  Sure, they'll lose them for Nationals, but they benefit in getting there.
• The team that wins Sectionals and represents the section at Nationals very well not be the best team to represent the section.  If they've lost players that carried them to the win, they aren't the same team, and a team they unfairly beat could be a better representative for the section.
• Forcing opponents to have to face out of level players, who are proven to be out of level, and just accept the loss, is not fair or equitable to all of the opponents at Sectionals.

This rule change is in effect encouraging captains to find out of level players and hide them in local league play so they can benefit from having them at Sectionals with very few negatives.  It is the exact opposite of what I'd think we want league play to be and is trying to be "fair" to teams with questionable players by letting them play, at the expense of being "fair" to all the other teams who have to play against them.  That seems backwards to me.

What do you think?

A loss for PNW USTA is a gain for USTA National

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know I live in the Seattle area and thus play in the Pacific Northwest section of the USTA.  Playing in the PNW, I've had the opportunity to interact with local and section USTA staff including Adam Hutchinson who over the years has grown to be responsible for effectively all competition, Adults and Juniors, in the PNW.  I worked on a regulations change proposal with Adam and he has been a great resource for other questions and, in my opinion and despite occasionally not agreeing on everything, has done a great job with league play in my section.

I learned yesterday that, unfortunately, Adam is leaving the PNW section, but fortunately, he is staying with the USTA and moving to National to be responsible for adult competition including league and tournament play.

Adam has been an advocate for growing the game, and PNW is one of the few sections to have had USTA League participation grow recently, team count was up 8% from 2014 to 2019 and player count up 5%, despite the general trend the other direction across all of USTA League play, player count down almost 10% over the same period.  So while I'm sorry to see him leave PNW, I'm encouraged that National is getting someone with a proven record of running leagues and tournaments in an area that has shown growth.

Good luck Adam and don't forget PNW way off in the other corner of the country!

Seattle dominates USTA League Pacific Northwest 40 & Over Sectionals

The Pacific Northwest section held their 40 & Over Sectionals this past weekend and the Northwest Washington (Seattle) district had a good weekend.

For the 2.5 women, Bainbridge-Alnwick (Seattle) won going 4-0 and 11-1 on courts.

At the 3.0 level, the women's championship was won by TCSP -Anderson (Seattle) beating Pacific Clinic-Lindberg in the final 3-1.  The men's had two Seattle teams in the final with Pro Club-Fintu beating Robinswood-Ravi 3-2 with the deciding win on court 1 doubles.

For the 3.5s, the women from BTA-Wolson (Seattle) beat West Hills-Leong 3-2 with the court 1 doubles win.  Note BTA had won their flight despite losing a match 3-2 to an undefeated team because points per position was used for standings.  The men had Pacific Clinic-Kohan (Eastern Washington) beating MAC Club-Wright 4-1.

At the 4.0 level, Central Park-Laun (Seattle) beat AC Bend-Feldman for the women.  And the men's 4.0s had TCSP-Blum (Seattle) beating Pacific Clinic-Haight 3-2.

The 4.5 women saw Edgebrook-Wilson (Seattle) beat Yakima-Morrison 3-2, while the men had two Seattle teams with Independent-Dalkin beating Central Park-Avery 3-2.

The 5.0 level does not go to Nationals, but Sectionals were still held with two Seattle teams playing for the women with Pine Lake-Hayes beating Central Park-Gibson.  The men had a three team round-robin with Forest Crest-Regala (Seattle) going 3-1 taking the win.

So of the 11 Sectionals champs, 10 of them were from Seattle.

This was a little different at 18 & Over a few weeks ago where the totals were:

• Seattle - 7 (3.0W, 3.5M, 4.0M, 4.5W, 4.5M, 5.0W, 5..0M)
• Eastern Washington - 2 (2.5W, 3.0M)
• Portland - 1 (3.5W)
• Southwest Washington - 1 (4.0W)

Seattle won the most by far, but the other districts weren't shutout the same as for 40 & Over.

These teams are now headed to Nationals, which are just over four weeks away.

Good luck to all!  Perhaps I'll have the opportunity to do some reports for a team or two to help them scout the competition and plan their line-ups!

Wanting to follow Northwest Washington (Seattle) 40 & Over playoffs? Don't use TennisLink!

The saga of the USTA's technology challenges as it relates to leagues and tournaments seems to be continuing.

Local playoffs for the 40 & Over league in Seattle are going on this weekend, and I went to TennisLink to see how some friends had done in the matches.  Let's ignore for now that TennisLink is terrible as trying to follow along with local playoffs like this as there is no central place to see the schedule or get to draws, you more or less have to find a player or team and then find their championships and navigate to the draw where you can see only that draw.  Want to see other draws or NTRP levels?  Prepare to search and navigate a bunch more.  But I said I'd ignore that for now, so moving on.

I found the draw I was after but no score had been recorded yet.  But my wife got a text from a spectator saying our friend's team won and I refreshed the draw and indeed I saw the match was now recorded ... except the draw said the other team won!

Confused, I clicked on the match, and court by court our friend's team had won 3 courts to 1, but going back to the draw, it showed the other team winning 3-1.

Thinking this was perhaps a TennisLink web-site issue, I went to the iPhone app but it too showed a draw with the other team winning and advancing.

Clearly something is amiss with TennisLink, perhaps the issues in the new Serve Tennis/Play Tennis site have found their way into TennisLink, and it turns out our League Coordinator knows, as she is using a Google Docs spreadsheet to keep track of playoffs and pointing folks to it!  And it is even linked to from the Northwest Washington page on USTA.com.

Kudos to Jill for recognizing the issue and coming up with a solution, but it is sad she has to do that.  She is effectively having to do double work to enter results in the spreadsheet and eventually go get them in TennisLink.

But going back to it being hard to follow events like this, it is doubly bad when TennisLink is messing up as I don't think it is well known that a Google Docs spreadsheet is being used so fans don't know to look there and may look at TennisLink and get incorrect information it appears.

So, if you are trying to follow playoffs this weekend, don't head to TennisLink, but instead go here and click on the 2021 A40 Playoffs sheet where you can see a much nicer than TennisLink schedule for the whole event in one place and all the results.

PNW Seattle 40 & Over USTA League on track to start March 5th

Back in early December, the Pacific Northwest section of the USTA announced that leagues scheduled to begin in January would be posted until at least March.   This was a result of coronavirus restrictions in much if not all of Washington and Oregon being in phase 1 and not allowing indoor play at all at the time, and the likelihood that the restrictions would not be lifted in days or weeks.

Thankfully, early January did bring a modified phase 1 in some areas that did allow for play indoors with restrictions including wearing masks while playing, but no tournaments or leagues allowed.

Late this week, it was announced that the greater Seattle area would be moving to phase 2 this coming Monday, and with it our area League Coordinator sent an e-mail out to captains saying that our 40 & Over league would indeed be starting on March 5th.

Now, this does not mean league play will be fully back to normal when play begins in 5 weeks.  As I understand it, wearing masks will still be required during play, and as a result some players not comfortable with that may opt not to play, so players and captains need to be clear on this before joining teams.

I also expect that in order to help adhere to strict court times and minimize interaction between players coming/going/watching, we may still be using timed matches and facilities will ask that players leave promptly when play on a court is finished.

Here are important dates for this league:

• 2/1 - Teams must be registered
• 2/8 - Teams must have at least 7 players registered
• 2/19 - Schedule published
• 3/5 - 4/25 - Regular season of 6-7 matches per team
• 4/30 - 5/2 - Local playoffs
• 8/27 - 8/29 - Sectionals

All of the above is subject to change of course should the coronavirus situation change, but my fingers are crossed we can stay at or progress from phase 2 and continue to be able to play.

I have not heard if other areas in PNW are similarly moving to phase 2 and on track to begin league play in March, but I'll update as I hear more, or readers can leave a comment with what they've heard.

2021 PNW USTA Leagues postponed until March

In my section (Pacific Northwest), our Winter leagues start right away in the new year, generally the first or second weekend of January.

Unfortunately, the Governors of Washington and Oregon increased COVID-19 restrictions about three weeks ago and those included no indoor tennis, and should those restrictions continue into 2021, that makes playing USTA League matches are a no go.

There have been petitions circulated asking for indoor tennis to be exempt from the restrictions as it is proven to be a safe form of exercise, but apparently so far, no takers on granting that request.

Because of this, and the short-term outlook of COVID-19 numbers not improving, it appears the restriction will not be lifted soon, and as a result, the PNW section sent out notice today that 2021 Winter league play would not begin until at least March 5.

That may seem like a pretty extreme adjustment, a full two months, but a lot goes into planning and coordinating a league from confirming team to securing courts from facilities and creating a schedule bringing the teams and courts together.  It also doesn't make sense to start league play immediately upon restrictions being lifted, especially with 40 & Over injuries could be rampant if that were the case, so some ramp up time makes sense.

A delay until March 5 (or later) throws a monkey wrench into the rest of the schedule as well, and the e-mail mentions plans are being worked on to allow for all leagues to be played leading up to local playoffs and Sectionals, but until more is known about when restrictions may be lifted, no dates or plans can be shared.  We will all have to remain patient.

Note, league play is going on in quite a few sections, but not all, and should suspension of play continue well in to 2021, it will begin to introduce doubt into whether 2021 leagues can be completed and correspondingly, Nationals be held.  It would be really unfortunate if Nationals were canceled for two years running so let's hope we find a way to get leagues going again in all or at least most sections very soon.

Unhappy with indoor tennis restrictions in Washington? Sign this petition!

Earlier this week, amid increasing COVID-19 numbers, the State of Washington Governor's office reintroduced restrictions on various indoor activities, including closing indoor activities at athletic clubs, meaning folks in Seattle and other parts of Washington are unable to play indoor tennis, and with temperatures in the 40s and periodic rain, we aren't playing outside either.

USTA League play in Seattle was wrapping up with 55 & Over playoffs just finishing in time (completed this past Sunday) but 18 & Over Mixed now having to be tentatively rescheduled for January.

I, among others, use tennis as their primary form of exercise in the winter here and not having it is more than an inconvenience, it can significantly affect one's well being.  The COVID-19 pandemic is certainly something to be taken seriously and certain restrictions may make sense, but evidence seems to show that when managed with the appropriate protocols and social distancing before and after play, tennis can be a safe activity with very low risk of transmitting the corona virus.

If you agree indoor tennis should not be a restricted activity, please express your support for an on-line petition to Allow safe, socially distanced indoor tennis in Washington!  As of this writing, 2,197 supporters have signed this petition and it is growing quickly.

Thanks to Diane Tien for getting this started!  Let's see how many signatures we can get!

How did the new playoff format workout for Seattle Adult 55 & Over playoffs?

Local playoffs for the Seattle area 55 & Over league were played this past weekend and were the first to use a new playoff format that put all the 1st place teams in one draw and the 2nd place teams in another draw.

I've written up my thoughts on the format that gives the 1st place draw final loser a second chance to make the playoffs by beating the 2nd place draw winner, so it makes sense to take a look and see how things played out and if any 2nd place draw teams were able to advance.

At the 6.0 level, the women had TCSP beat Lower Woodland in the 1st place draw, then Lower Woodland had a second chance to advance by beating HBSQ, but HBSQ came through with the win for the 2nd place draw winner.

The 6.0 men had AYTC beat CAC/SL in the 1st place final, AYTC then played ETC who won the 2nd place draw and again, the 2nd place draw winner won with ETC advancing.

The 7.0 women Lower Woodland beat HBSQ-Cho in the 1st place final, and they face HBSQ-Vitcovich who won the 2nd place final, and this time the 1st place final loser came through with HBSQ-Cho advancing.

The 7.0 men had three teams in each draw, and CAC/SL with the bye in the 1st place draw won their final over TCSP, but TCSP got a second chance to advance by playing STC who had the bye in the 2nd place draw and won that final, and TCSP came through notching another advancement for the 1st place draw final loser.

The 8.0 and 9.0 levels for men and women had just one flight, so the top-2 teams automatically advanced and there were no local playoffs.

So, with a limited sample size, we see the wildcard spot went to the 1st place draw loser twice, and to the 2nd place draw winner twice.

This format will be used for Mixed 18 & Over (when we manage to get those playoffs in) and I believe it will be for Adult 40 & Over as well, so we'll get more data from those.  Stay tuned.

Update on Seattle area Adult 55 and Mixed 18 Playoffs - So close!

In many of the districts in the Pacific Northwest section, several leagues are played in the Fall as Early Start Leagues.  In Seattle, these are the Adult 55 & Over and Mixed 18 & Over leagues.

In 2020, getting any league in has been a challenge in most areas, but with the relaxing of restrictions over the summer and clubs open for indoor tennis, we were optimistic that these Fall league could be played to completion including local playoffs.

In most years, the league runs from September thru November, with local playoffs typically the first two weekends in December.  This year, our League Coordinator Jill anticipated that COVID-19 would claw its way back in the fall and made the smart move to schedule matches more aggressively and have the regular season and local playoffs done before Thanksgiving.

Well, we almost pulled it off!  55 & Over playoffs were this past weekend and 18 & Over were scheduled to be played this coming weekend, but alas the Governor in Washington announced that due to increasing testing and hospitalization statistics, a number of restrictions would be reintroduced including closing indoor athletic facilities and unfortunately tennis clubs are included in that.  And with temperatures in the 40s with rain, outdoor play isn't really an option.

Jill and our section office are lobbying the Oregon and Washington Governor's offices to allow indoor tennis to be played, or at least first on the list of activities to have the restrictions lifted, but for the next month at least in Washington, we are shut down and indoor tennis can't be played.

As a result, our 18 & Over Mixed playoffs are postponed, tentatively until January.  The current plan is:

• 6.0 level will be played out of Columbia Athletic Club/Silver Lake 1/8-1/10/21
• 8.0 level will be played out Tennis Center Sand Point 1/7-1/10/21
• 7.0 and 9.0 will be late Jan/early Feb - more details to come

All of this assumes restrictions will be lifted enough for play to resume.

For those following along, you are probably wondering about Adult 40 & Over which is due to start in January, and I'm sure that league is also subject to the restrictions being lifted as it is scheduled to start play 1/8.

PNW Seattle giving new playoff format another shot for 2021 18 & Over Mixed

Before COVID-19 ended our 40 & Over season in the Seattle area, we were working our way towards a new local playoff format.

I wrote much more at the time, but the short story is in a league where the 1st and 2nd place team in each sub-flight advance to playoffs, the new local playoff format places all the 1st place teams in one draw and all the second place teams in the other.  The winner of the 1st place team draw advances to Sectionals, while the loser of that match plays the winner of the 2nd place team draw for the chance to advance to Sectionals as a wildcard.

I wasn't terribly fond of the format then, and while we didn't get a chance to see it in practice yet, I'm still leery of it for the simple reason that it doesn't seem to reward 1st place teams enough.  While by making the final of the 1st place bracket they assure themselves of an extra shot at advancing even if they lose that final, they still have to make it to the final by winning one or two matches and do so against other first place teams.  One can almost make the argument that it may be easier to win two matches in the 2nd place bracket against 2nd place teams to make that final, and the have to play only one first place team, and that being one that could be playing their 4th match of the weekend at that point.

What do you think?

USTA Pacific Northwest to use timed matches for 2021 Early Start (2020) Fall leagues

USTA League has resumed in nearly all sections to varying degrees, but with no Nationals this year the majority of play is essentially just for fun and to get back out on the courts playing tennis again.

But in one area (Georgia), play has started for 2021 with early start leagues, and other sections will do the same this Fall, PNW where I am, being one.

In most districts in PNW, the Fall early start leagues are Mixed 18 & Over and Adult 55 & Over, but regardless, in my district (Seattle) our League Coordinator just notified us of a format change for the Fall leagues compared to what we've done in the past.

In PNW, particularly for non-Summer leagues, we tend to play USTA League indoors.  It isn't true  that it rains all the time here, but particularly in the Winter it is too cold/wet to play outdoors consistently, and even in the Spring and Fall it can be hit and miss and rather than having scheduling issues, we just have leagues scheduled indoors.

The challenge with this is indoor facilities generally have fixed court times, usually 90 minutes in my area but at a club or two it is 75 minutes.  Not every match ends in the allotted amount of time though, so how does one handle that?

Many clubs will provide or ask that the home team book an overflow court to be used to complete any matches not finished after 90 (75) minutes so as to not delay the subsequent booked courts (which are often another league match).  Some clubs do allow a match some leeway, say 10-15 minutes, for a match to finish on the court they are on if they are nearly complete.

Most of the time this works, but sometimes matches don't finish and there is no court available, and then the players in the match must arrange to finish the match at a later date.  This is kind of a pain, but rare enough that we deal with it.

In this time of trying to play league matches during the COVID-19 pandemic though, the above process is problematic for several reasons.

Clubs are trying to avoid players congregating and limit the interaction and exposure players have to each other, so having a situation where teams are waiting around for prior matches to finish, or players are switching courts and increasing their exposure to others is not ideal, and may even violate current state protocols or restrictions.  If the latter were to happen and be reported, it is possible a state could elect to ban the scenarios required for league play at all and we'd have suspended seasons again.

Also, asking players to hang around and figure out when/where to complete a match, or just the act of doing so is also increasing exposure and risk so that is not desired.

You will note that while timed matches are a valid USTA format, the process I noted PNW uses did not call for the use of them.  That is now changing, and at least for the Fall of 2020, we will have timed matches.

Since we haven't had timed matches in PNW, my readers there, or others where they haven't been used, may be wondering what exactly it is.  The answer, basically, is that a process is established for how to determine a winner at or near the end of the allotted time if the match will not complete.  The process is not the same in every area using timed matches, but here is the gist of what PNW will use this Fall as I understand it.

If a match is completed, it is entered as a completed match as is normally done.

If, when time expires, a match is not completed, it is entered as a timed-match with the score reflecting all completed games.

If a game is in progress when time expires, it does not count.  However, a point in progress when time expires is completed and does count.  If the completion of the final point results in a game being completed, that game counts.

The winner of a timed match is the player(s) that won the most games.  If the match score is tied on games, a single deciding point is played following the normal serving sequence when time expired, and the receiver gets choice of side unless it is mixed doubles and then it is gender to gender.  The winner of this point will be declared the winner.

If a first set or match tie-break is in progress, the player(s) leading in the tie-break is declared the winner.  If the score is tied in the tie-break, a deciding point is played as noted above.

There are some edge cases not covered with what I just wrote and am trying to get clarification on how it will work and will provide an update and example scenarios in another post so stay tuned.

What do you think?  Do you like timed-matches and wish PNW would have been using them for time constrained matches all along?  Are they ok as a temporary measure to appease the state so we can play?  Or do you hate the idea regardless of the scenario?

More USTA sections lay out plans for resuming League play - PNW and NorCal

Most areas in the country a re beginning to reopen, and with that USTA sections are laying out plans for resuming USTA League play.

In my section, Pacific Northwest, all normal/advancing league play has been canceled but a Summer Social League is planned and teams are starting to form.  It is an 18 & Over Mixed league using a similar format to the recently new 18-39 Coed league, that being World Team Tennis like format.

In this format a team match consists of six no-ad set matches, first to six games wins, a 9-point tie-breaker played at 5-5.  The team match will be played on two courts with men's/women's doubles first, men's and women's singles next, and two courts of mixed doubles last.

There are a variety of WTT like rules including playing lets on serves, substitutions during a set, and coaching being allowed.  See this for the full rules including guidelines for Covid-19 conscious line-up exchanges and play with everyone serving with their own balls.

The matches will not count for ratings, and the league will run from July 17 thru August 30.  The goal is 4-6 matches per team, and a team could form with just four players.

The other big news is the league is free!  Well, sort of.  You still have to register on TennisLink and it will charge its $3 fee.  Guest fees at clubs will still apply as well.

PNW has also earlier stated that 2021 early start leagues are planned as normal for this Fall.

Northern California has also notified players of their plans for resuming play, an update from their prior plans.  They plan to open registrations for Adult 18 & Over, Adult 40 & Over, and Mixed 55 & Over at the in June.

Adult 18 & Over will replace the normal Fall Combo league and play from August 10 thru October 4, with local playoffs and even Sectionals finishing up in mid-November.  Players already registered for the earlier planned 18 & Over will receive a credit to be automatically applied to a future registration.

The 40 & Over league was in session so needs to be finished and will do so from August 3 thru 30 working towards Sectionals October 9 thru 11.

Mixed 55 & Over also needs to complete play and will do so September 14 thru October 4, Sectionals in early November.

It appears Tri-Level is planned as a weekend event in late October, and Adult 65 & Over is still TBD with a. survey forthcoming.


What is happening in your area?  Do you plan to play or sit out the remainder of 2020?

PNW surveys players on 40 & Over league - Voice your opinion!

There was a lot of angst and discussion about USTA National's move to a 4-court format for 40 & Over in 2020 and most sections following suit.  General feedback I heard, and survey's I did, revealed the vast majority of players didn't like the format for a variety of reasons.

I've heard that some sections as they plan to resume play for 2020 are going back to a 5-court format for 40 & Over since there are no Nationals and in most cases no Sectionals or other playoffs, as this gives more opportunity to play and I think sections heard that player's didn't like the 4-court format.

In my section, Pacific Northwest, we were promised a survey after the season, and while the seasons in most districts were stopped short, in Seattle we got all but one weekend of regular season play in, and since none of the leagues are being resumed, the season is over and we have our survey!

I just took the survey, and here is what was asked along with my answers and thoughts.

Player, captain, or did not play?

I did not captain this year, was only a player.  It will be interesting to see if they break the results out by player vs captain and how different they are.


Did you like the 4-court format with 1 singles and 3 doubles?

I did not like it for all the reasons I've written about before.


Which match format do you prefer for the Adult 40 League 3.0-4.5+ levels?   (pick 1st/2nd of)

• 1 singles / 4 doubles
• 1 singles / 2 doubles
• 2 singles / 3 doubles
• 3 doubles
• 2 singles / 2 doubles
• 1 singles / 3 doubles

This is a reasonable question and has numerous options, so hopefully the bad math National used to move to a 4-court format doesn't happen again.  It does offer two 5-court formats, two 4-court formats, and two 3-court formats.  It is light on singles with just two options having 2 singles courts and one having no singles.

I picked 2S/3D as my first choice because I think that is the right combination of singles and doubles and gets 8 players in a match and has an odd number of courts so team wins are clear.

My second choice was 1S/4D.  I struggled with this as I hate to drop to just 1 singles court, but the only other 2 singles court option was 4 courts which is even and I don't like, and only gets 6 players in a match which I don't like.

Which team match scoring method do you think works best for this league for 3.0-4.5+ levels?

• Team wins (if even courts, normal tie-breakers ultimately 1D winner the last breaker)
• Points per position

I chose team wins as my preferred.  Teams are, well, teams, and I think each match having a winner based on courts is important.  I did comment that I do prefer PPP if it is an even court format as I don't like the tie-breakers used to break 2-2 ties.

Should Points Per Position continue to be used in the Pacific NW?

I answered it should be if a league uses an even court format, otherwise it should not.

What is your first choice for some Points Per Position options?

• Three options for 1S / 3D listed along with other/comment
• 3321
• 1211
• 2221

This is an impossible question, and three options is pretty slim given the infinite possibilities.  They also focused on just 1S / 3D, which I guess you have to lest this explode with all the permutations.  I picked 3321 of these simply because I believe PPP should give more weight to court 1 and go down from there, and that is the only option that does that.

All in all, a reasonable survey.  I look forward to seeing the results and how the section interprets them.

If you play in PNW, please do take the survey yourself.  You should have received an e-mail from the section with a link.  If not, reach out to your League Coordinator or drop me a note.