This weekend's USTA League Nationals in Arizona may be using short sets

I wrote a few days ago about the potential rain in the Phoenix area, and it appears the forecast is bad enough that the USTA is going to proactively start the event using an alternate shorter format, I'm guessing short sets starting each set at 2-2, and play no-ad.

The forecast for Friday and Saturday calls for thunderstorms and a chance of flash flooding, so hopefully with the short format matches can get played relatively on schedule and there will be minimal delays.

I think it is the right move by the USTA to do this proactively and get as ahead of it as possible as trying to fit matches in using an even shorter format later would be worse.

I'm guessing both Surprise and Scottsdale will go to this format which means the 18 & Over 2.5, 3.5, and 5.0 events will be affected.  The 4.0 events are in San Diego and the forecast appears near perfect there.

Will it rain on the first weekend of 2025 USTA League Nationals?

2025 USTA League Nationals is starting in a few days, and with that we need to do our weather checks.

Several events are in the greater Phoenix area (Surprise and Scottsdale), and the current forecast calls for showers and a heavy thunderstorm on both Friday and Saturday.  That sounds ominous, but I'd think the courts should dry quickly so hopefully they get all the matches in without having to alter the format.

The other site this weekend is San Diego, and there is a chance of a shower Saturday morning, otherwise sunny and pleasant, so I'd think everything will be fine there.

Stay away rain!

40 & Over Mixed Nationals in Orlando in the path of hurricane Nicole

The last weekend of Nationals is this weekend with the 40 & Over Mixed events all being played, 7.0/8.0 in Arizona and 6.0/9.0 in Orlando.

Unfortunately, the latest on hurricane Nicole is that it is going to make landfall on the Atlantic side of Florida early Thursday morning and move inland and north pretty much right over Orlando.  The good news is it appears to be a quick moving storm so may be clearing out by Friday, but reports are that Orlando could get 2-4 or even 4-8 inches of rain, and the airport closed Wednesday afternoon.

The National Campus has already posted they were closed at 1pm Wednesday and will remain closed through 1pm Friday, but I don't know there is any guarantee they are ready to open and begin hosting a Nationals event right at that time.  If they are, perhaps they can still pull it off, perhaps with a short set format, but if they don't start Friday, would they try to fit it all in on Saturday and Sunday?

Of course, to have an event you need players, and most would have been arriving Wednesday and Thursday and it is sounding like no one will be arriving tomorrow so for anyone to be there and ready to play Friday had to have already arrived, or find a way to sneak in Friday morning.

In the grand scheme of things, this is just recreational tennis and pales in comparison to folks homes and belongings, and certainly lives that could be at risk from the hurricane.  But I will try to update this post or add others as I learn any more about plans for the weekend.

Update: It appears the plan is to use short sets and get all of the round-robin matches in on Saturday.  This will allow teams to make it there on Friday.  It isn't ideal, but is probably making the best of a tough situation.

The facility should be open Friday afternoon for check-in and courts available for practice with matches starting at 9am.  Most teams are expected to be there but perhaps some won't be able to make it.

Week Five of USTA League Nationals - Rain in Orlando

Week 5 of USTA League Nationals is going on as I write this with the 55 & Over 6.0 and 9.0 in Orlando and Mixed having its first weekend of play with the 18 & Over 6.0, 8.0, and 10.0 in Arizona.

Unfortunately, it rained this afternoon in Orlando washing out most of the second matches.  This means there will be short sets and no-ad tomorrow to get all the matches in.

My simulation shows the 6.0 women could have a big tie at 3-1, the 6.0 men could have a 3-way tie for two spots, the 9.0 women could be a tidy four teams at 3-1 or better, and the 9.0 men could have five 3-1 teams for four spots.

For Mixed, the 6.0 level will likely have a tie at 3-1 for two spots with three teams, the 8.0 level still has a chance of five undefeated, but also could end up with six teams at 3-1, and the 10.0 level could have a big tie at 3-1.

Rain in Arizona wreaks havoc with the 18 & Over 4.0 schedule

As I write this, it is raining in Arizona and the 18 & Over 4.0 events are woefully behind schedule.  In fact, with the forecast for rain to continue into the evening the players have been told there will be no more matches today and a plan will be communicated at 8pm tonight.

The men only had 5 matches completed this morning and it appears none of the women's matches have been completed.  The question now is how to finish?

It is unlikely they can come up with a schedule or format that allows completing all of the matches for all the teams.  And those that are 0-2, 0-3, or 1-2 likely aren't terribly interested in sticking around and changing travel plans.

My suggestion would be to figure out a way to reasonably identify the four best teams with the minimum additional matches played.

For the men, there are two 3-0 teams, SoCal and Eastern, and with only two other 2-0 teams, the 3-0 teams should be in the semis.  The two 2-0 teams, Intermountain and Mid-Atlantic, are certainly candidates for selection, but given the standings, there is really just one other team, Florida, who would have an argument to be considered with them.  Florida is 2-1 and 11-4 on courts and it is possible that if Intermountain or Mid-Atlantic lost 4-1, they'd be tied with Florida and the tie could be broken.  None of the other teams are or can get to 2-1 and 11-4.  NorCal, Caribbean, and Midwest could each get to 2-1 but Caribbean has already lost a court vs Mid-Atlantic so they'd be at best 9-6 on courts, and NorCal and Midwest could get to 10-5 on courts so are already eliminated as Florida and Mid-Atlantic are already ahead of that.

So, I'd suggest Mid-Atlantic finish their match with Caribbean to see if they can win another court and be ahead of Florida.  If they do, or they finish tied at 2-1 / 11-4, the standings tie-breaker is used to break the tie and whoever wins that gets the 3rd semi spot.

It is trickier with Intermountain.  Their third match was to be against Eastern and it isn't really fair to make Eastern play a fourth match.  Unless you want to make the Eastern/Intermountain match a way to make IM play a third match and be a "play-in" match to make the top-4.  I don't really like this idea.

What might be better is to have Intermountain play any other team, say Hawaii since that was to be their fourth match, and as soon as they win two courts they are in, or if they only win one court the tie-breaker with Florida and/or Mid-Atlantic is done.

One last option would be to take the standings as is and take the top-5 and two of them play a play-in match to make the semis.  You could have Intermountain and Mid-Atlantic play since they are the ones with just two matches needing a third to be fairly compared with the teams ahead of them.  Or have Florida play in the play-in as they have a loss vs Eastern as they have the most courts lost.

Or, one other idea.  Take the top-8 in the standings right now and do quarterfinals.  This would add 2-1 teams Southern, Northern, and New England.  This is a bit unfair to the 1-1 teams that didn't have a chance to get to 2-1, but those teams had no shot making the top four or five under the above options.  Or you could try to play/complete the matches for the 1-1 teams first thing in the morning and then take the top eight to the quarterfinals.

The women is a different story with none completed.  I'll write another blog on them shortly.

Update: Here is my best idea.

Plan to take the top-8 to the quarterfinals.

To get the top-8 as fairly as possible, you need the 1-1 teams to play/finish their 3rd matches.

Mid-Atlantic and Caribbean already started, have them finish.  Mid-Atlantic is already in the top-8, but Caribbean could find their way in if they win.

NorCal and Hawaii is I think already started, have them finish.  NorCal could find their way into the top-8

Texas and Midwest is I think already started, have them finish.  Both are 1-1 and could find their way in.

That is it, once those are finished, take the top-8 in the standings to quarterfinals.  Use short set/fast-four format for the quarters and semis, if time allows, use normal sets for the final.

Weather report for the third weekend of 2021 USTA League Nationals

The third weekend of USTA League Nationals is coming up and the Nationals Campus in Orlando enters the fray, so the weather report is in order.

Two events will be held in the Phoenix area, and weather there will be just fine, mid to upper 80s with 5-10 mph breezes.

Oklahoma City finishes up its service for 2021 this weekend, and Friday is forecast to have morning showers and be windy again, but after that the weather looks fine with mid to upper 60s.

Orlando hosts its first Nationals of the year and the temperatures look to be in the upper 80s with mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies and modest breezes.

So perhaps a minor delay in Oklahoma City, but otherwise looks good for the weekend.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Weather report for the second weekend of 2021 USTA League Nationals

The weather last weekend was fine, what about for the second weekend of Nationals?

The events are in the same location as last weekend, Oklahoma City and the Phoenix area, the 40 & Over 4.0 in the former and then 18 & Over 4.5 and 2.5 in the latter.

The Phoenix weather is warm and sunny as you'd expect, 91 Friday, then mid-80s, with slight winds of around 10 mph, so should be good to go.

Oklahoma City is also warm, mid-90s Friday and Saturday, then mid-80s on Sunday, but there is wind.  Friday is forecast at 15-25 mph, Saturday 22 mph, and Sunday 19 mph.  So that could make things interesting.

Good luck to all this weekend!

2021 USTA League Nationals starts today! Time to check the weather forecast

Today is the first day of the 2021 USTA League Nationals.  The 18 & Over division start things off with the 3.0 men and women in Oklahoma City, the 3.5 men and women in Surprise, AZ, and the 5.0 men and women in Phoenix.

As I write this Friday morning, matches should be underway in Oklahoma City, but oddly TennisLink does not yet show the schedule in the "Match Summary" tab.  The other levels do have the full schedules on TennisLink.  The PDF schedule for all has been available for awhile.  I'm sure they will get it fixed, but I wonder if there will be delays in posting results for the 3.0 event? [see update below]

I will be monitoring what goes on and will likely write about anything odd or interesting that comes up.

But something that is always interesting is the weather and its potential impact on play.

OKC's forecast is a little iffy, with thunderstorms moving in late today and rain lingering tomorrow morning, but otherwise appears to be ok.  Let's hope they get matches in today and there aren't delays tomorrow morning.

The Arizona weather is near perfect, if not slightly warm as highs will be in the low 90s with no chance of rain.

Good luck to all!

Update: The schedules for the 3.0 level are now on TennisLink.

Weather Update 2: Six hour delay and short format for day 1 of 40 & Over Mixed in Orlando

I wrote earlier than rain had arrived and there would be delays.  They ended up not starting play until early afternoon, around 1pm, and using a short format with no-ad and sets to 4 rather than 6.

Even with these steps in place, it still appears it will be a late night as as of the writing of this (9:45pm EST) according to TennisLink, there are:

• Seven 6.0 matches to play, one team hasn't played yet
• Five 7.0 matches to play, two teams haven't played yet
• Four 8.0 matches to play
• Five 9.0 matches to play, two teams haven't played yet

Sounds like it will be a late night for some teams, while others have their two matches done for the day and are relaxing.  Perhaps they are delayed entering scores, but I'm told they enter them promptly.

Weather Update: USTA League Nationals in Orlando Week 7 - Rain arrives

The weather report for this weekend's 40 & Over Mixed Nationals in Orlando wasn't good earlier in the week, and it still isn't good.

This will be the 4th of five Nationals held in Orlando having some amount of rain/delays, the 3rd it appears with significant delays and potential short format scoring being required.

Here it is as of Thursday evening.

It doesn't look promising for much of Friday.  With those percentages, even if there are periods without rain, can the courts be dried and play start for any period of time before more rain arrives?

I hear that they are already planning for the start of play to be delayed until Friday afternoon, perhaps 2pm when the indoor courts become available, but it sounds like they are hoping outdoor courts are playable by then too.

I have not heard if they are preemptively going to short format scoring.  Saturday looks good at this point so I'm sure they will try to catch up with more condensed scheduling so perhaps they can avoid a short format.

I'll update this post as I learn more, or create a new one with more significant updates.

Update: The decision was made Thursday evening to play sets to 4 rather than 6 and to use no-ad, on Friday at least.  A revised schedule was posted planning to start play in the afternoon when the forecast says the rain will diminish, but teams are on standby to start earlier if weather permits.

Weather Report - 2019 USTA League Nationals Week 7 - Orlando

USTA League Nationals for 2019 wrap up this coming weekend November 15-17 in Orlando with all four levels of 40 & Over Mixed being played.

After we had week 3 impacted by rain (3+ inches), week 4 impacted by rain (nearly an inch of rain), and this past weekend being impacted (0.7 inches of rain, but overnight and just a short delay Saturday morning), there has only been one out of four weekends of Nationals in Orlando that has been dry.  So we need to look at the forecast for this weekend.

Unfortunately it isn't good.

A decent chance of rain both Friday and Saturday when the bulk of matches will be played.

Let's hope the forecast improves, but it would be unfortunate if four out of the five Nationals held at the National Campus were affected by rain.

What is on tap for week 5 of USTA League Nationals? More 55 & Over and Mixed gets going, what about the weather?

Week 4 of USTA League Nationals is complete, so it is time to look forward to week 5 and what we can expect.

The first 55 & Over event was just completed this weekend, and that division continues with the men and women at the 8.0 level playing in Surprise, AZ.

With 18 & Over and 40 & Over complete, it is now time for Mixed to get going and it starts with the 18 & Over 7.0 and 9.0 levels playing in Orlando.

We are still over 4 days away from play commencing, but we do need to take a look at the weather forecast given the weather issues this weekend and last weekend.

Arizona's forecast calls for sun all three days and upper 70s to lower 80s.  No chance of rain shown on either side of the weekend either so this looks great for the 55 & Over players headed there.

Orlando's forecast calls for isolated thunderstorms on Friday, a 40% chance of afternoon showers on Saturday, and mostly cloudy on Sunday.  This forecast is not dissimilar to the forecast for this weekend a week ago, so let's hope it rain and delays don't happen again.

Weather update 2: Week 4 of USTA League Nationals in Orlando

The weather report yesterday wasn't promising, and it turns out it rained quite a bit in Orlando today and has disrupted play significantly.

As I understand it, at least some 11am matches have not been completed yet as of 6pm, but they are hoping to get them complete or back in progress by 7pm.  Then:

• 1pm matches plan to go on at 7:00 pm
• 3:00 pm matches at 9:00 pm
• 4:30pm matches at 10:30 pm

The handful of indoor courts will be used at 7:00 pm but they hope to be playing outdoors as well.

Word is they will try to get back on schedule and play tomorrow's matches as planned, but there is a 50% chance of Thunderstorms again.

Update: Friday's matches were not completed, short-format on Saturday.

Weather update: Week 4 of Nationals in Orlando

When I did the start of the week weather check, weather was great in Arizona and some possibility of rain in Orlando.

As of Thursday night, the forecast still calls for a decent chance of rain.  With a 40-50% chance of thunderstorms every day, it looks like there is a good chance play gets interrupted.  Hopefully it will be better than the forecast or the interruptions be brief.

Weather Report - 2019 USTA League Nationals Week 4 - Arizona and Orlando

Week 3 of 2019 USTA League Nationals is complete and so we look forward to week 4.

There are just two events this coming weekend, the 55 & Over 7.0 in Surprise, AZ, and The 40 & Over 4.5+ in Orlando.

As usual, we need to do a weather check, especially given the rain, delays, and resulting short format that occurred for the 40 & Over 3.0 men and women in Orlando this weekend.

The weather has been near perfect in Vegas and Arizona the first three weeks, and it continues this weekend in Surprise.

Sunny, no rain, 80s, little wind, should be good.

Orlando on the other hand is not so good.  It is tropical storm season which we saw from this weekend, and the forecast for this coming weekend still calls for rain.

It appears likely there will be rain and some delays, matches potentially moved to the few indoor courts, and short format matches.  Forecast can change, so let's hope it improves, but why keep playing events where it is likely to rain?

Stay tuned for simulations.

Weather update: Week 3 of USTA League Nationals in Orlando

The rain arrived in Orlando, and the alternate plans had to be implemented.

The forecast was for rain much of the day and so matches were moved into the handful of indoor courts at the National Campus, and the format was changed to an abbreviated Fast Four format.

As I understand it, sets were played to 4, playing a tie-break at 3-3, and if sets were split, a super tie-break was played.  This is probably the least evil of the alternate formats, others being pro-sets to 8, 6, or even 4.  At least this format still has three sets so a slow start isn't necessarily a nail in the coffin so to speak.

Now, even with this, since there are limited indoor courts, I understand some round-robin matches are still planned to be played Sunday morning.  The current forecast seems to say the rain has moved out of the Orlando area so I'd think there is a chance play could commence outside, but I've gotten no indication that is in the cards.

Kudos to the USTA for having a plan to accelerate matches on Friday and play at least a semi normal format today, but I still contend there are sites where there is less chance of disruption like this that could have been selected.

I also heard that Oklahoma City has been going find.  A bit windy as it was last weekend, but still playable.

First weekend in Orlando, and we have rain ... - Format changes already

USTA League Nationals enters its third weekend tomorrow, and the National Campus in Orlando is being used for the first time.  I wrote earlier in the week there was a chance of some Thunderstorms and rain over the weekend, and it appears that forecast has gotten worse.

With a tropical storm in the gulf, the forecast is now for rain on Saturday, perhaps quite a bit, and the rain appears to be coming in on Friday and perhaps hanging around Sunday morning.

I am hearing that the USTA is being proactive to try to get ahead of things by modifying the schedule to play more matches on Friday, and to use no-ad scoring to shorten matches a bit.  That will help, but will it be enough to avoid more drastic measures?

I bet all the players are wishing they were in Arizona or California or Las Vegas ...

Weather Report - 2019 USTA League Nationals Week 3 - Vegas, Arizona, OKC, Orlando

This week finds four sites being used for Nationals so here is the obligatory weather report.

Last week's forecast was pretty good, some cooler temps and wind in OKC and that did come true, but no delays I'm aware of.  But this week, one site may not be so lucky.

Arizona and Vegas are again being used this weekend, and as you'd expect, the weather is near ideal.

Surprise, AZ is 80s and no chance of rain, just some breeze on Sunday:

Vegas is 70s/80s and no chance of rain, slightly breezier on Friday and Sunday:

But the other two sites do not look as good.

Oklahoma City has a fair amount of wind all three days and while the temperatures are fine, some thunderstorms may affect things on Sunday.  Let's hope the matches get in before any rains arrive:

Orlando is the most questionable though with showers late on Friday and into Saturday with Thunderstorms on Sunday:

This is by no means a horrid forecast, it is possible there will be few if any delays, but the chance of them is there.  Thankfully, the National Campus should have the capacity to speed things up if needed.

Where would you rather be playing your Nationals?

Weather Report - 2019 USTA League Nationals Week 2 - Vegas, Arizona, OKC

The second weekend of 2019 USTA League Nationals is nearly upon us, and it is always a good idea to do a weather check to see if any issues or delays may arise.

There have been several weather issues the past few years with questionable sites, bad luck, and limited backups plans, but this year the USTA has picked sites far less likely to have weather issues and I'm told has much better back-up plans in place.  I think all of the players appreciate this, and I'm hoping for the best at all the events.

Last week's events were held in Vegas and Surprise Arizona and I didn't do a weather report, because, well, when does it ever rain there!  Ok, it does on occasion and when it does it can be heavy rains, so it is best.

So what is the forecast for this weekend?

First, Oklahoma City is hosting its first event and while there is an 80% chance of thunderstorms on Thursday, the weekend looks dry, albeit a bit windy and cooler.

In Vegas, everything looks comfortable and dry, with a bit of breeze perhaps.

And warmer, but dry, conditions in Surprise.

So it appears we have should have uninterrupted tennis at all three sites!

Weather Update: Getting _to_ USTA League Nationals!

Normally I give an update on the weather at the site for a Nationals weekend.  This weekend in Orlando the weather looks very good, 70s and sunny.  However, getting to Orlando may be the issue.  With a winter storm hitting the Northeast, I'm hearing of delayed and even cancelled flights.

I'm not sure what the contingency plan is if a team just can't make it.  They could just give all opponents default wins, or just not include the match in the standings, both have a different effect on how teams would be identified for the semis.

Ideally, if a team were to be missing, the schedule would get redone without the team so that all teams still play four matches.  With the schedule simulation work I've done, I know I could do that in minutes, not sure if the USTA is prepared to or not.

I do hope it doesn't come to that though.  Here's hoping everyone's flights go as scheduled or alternate plans can be found to get all the teams there on-time.

Safe travels everyone!