Does Points Per Position create more drama for USTA League captains?

The Points Per Position (PPP) format for USTA League matches is increasingly being used, in part due to the 4-court format the 40 & Over division is adopting in many sections . for 2020.  PPP has also been used in some sections as the standard format for a few years now.

I do wonder though, as it is used more and more, if it is going to make it harder for captains to manage their player's egos and create more drama?

Without PPP every court is just a single court contributing towards the team's total for that match.  Win more courts than your opponent, you win the team match and notch a win in the standings.  Each court being worth the same amount went along with the USTA stated position that there was no requirement to roll out a line-up in order of strength, there was no inference that the best players were to be on court 1 rather than court 3.

Given this, a captain could fall back on that statement and when someone complained about being on court 2 or 3, the captain could reply that court doesn't matter, and he thought the opponent would play their strongest pair there and that is why he played the player there.  It basically gave the captain an out to halt any discussions and turmoil regarding who was better than why Bob or Sue gets to play court 1 and Jim or Tammy doesn't.

With PPP though, this simply isn't a true statement anymore.  In nearly every PPP scenario, the courts are not equally weighted, court 1 is often worth more than court 2 is more than court 3.  So now, unless a captain is still doing a tactical sacrifice (harder to justify now), who the captain thinks is the best players is exposed by the line-up that is used.  They can no longer fall back on "all the courts are the same".

Is this going to cause for drama for captains?  Will they have more players griping about the court they play on?

For those that have used PPP, what is your experience?  Does it increase or decrease the burden on the captain to establish a pecking order and manage egos?

Northern district of Eastern section to use Points-per-Position for 40 & Over for 2020 USTA League

News continues to trickle in on how the new 40 & Over 4-court format is being adopted across the USTA sections.  I've written about what NorCal and PNW have planned, and now I've heard what will be done in the Northern district of Eastern.

The news from there is that they will play 4-courts and be another adopter of points-per-position assigning 4 points for court 1 singles and doubles, 3 points for court 2 doubles, and 2 points for court 3 doubles.  Or 4432 in the shorthand I am using.

Since how this is being handled varies so much, I have started a page to capture what I learn so it can be a resource for all.  Please contact me if you have information to fill in any gaps.

NorCal to use Points-per-Position for 40 & Over for 2020 USTA League

After National introduced a 4-court format for 2020 40 & Over, there were bound to be changes and a month ago, Pacific Northwest announced they would be using Points-per-Position scoring for regular season standings, and now I've learned Northern California will be using PPP as well.

It was almost certain to happen, a 4-court format with the possibility for 2-2 ties just begs for a change to the format, and I hypothesized National was secretly pushing for PPP to be used more, and whether that is the case or not, it is happening.

Like PNW, NorCal is assigning one point to all courts other than court 1 doubles which will be assigned two points.  There will thus be five points up for grabs in each match, and the team match "win" has no meaning as standings are simply determined by accumulated points.

What do you think?  What other sections are introducing PPP for 40 & Over in 2020?