The 2020 USTA League regulations introduced a 4-court format for the 40 & Over division with one singles court and three doubles courts being played. Being in the National regulations, this is the format that will be used at Nationals, but sections are given the leeway to use alternate formats as they deem appropriate in local league play as well as local/district/sectional playoffs.
It will be interesting to see how this format is adopted by each section. My guess is that many will follow National's lead and use it just to be consistent. My section, Pacific Northwest, will be using it and I've heard that NorCal and at least parts of Southern will be too, and I'm sure more will follow.
There are some challenges with a 4-court format, reduced playing opportunity is one, especially for singles players, but the possibility of 2-2 ties and how to determine a winner is another.
On this second point, I mentioned early in my analysis that the Points Per Position format is an approved alternate format for USTA League play to determine standings, and this is one way to address the 2-2 tie issue. I wrote up more thoughts and had a poll on the subject too. And at least one section, PNW, is adopting this format change for 2020. I will continue to monitor if other sections move this way too.
But this raises the question, if the 4-court format is driven by National and will be used at Nationals, should Points Per Position be used there rather than traditional wins and losses? As it stands now, it is possible, and has happened, that 4-court matches end in a 2-2 tie that cannot be broken by the current tie-breakers so what would happen at Nationals should this occur?
One solution is to go to Points Per Position for the un-flighted round-robin portion and have the standings determined based on accumulated points and not the team won/lost record as it is today. It would be a bit of a radical change for many, but if more sections adopt the format for local league play, it might actually make sense.
Of course, many playoffs, Nationals included, eventually get to an elimination bracket where a team match winner must be determined. While a 2-2 tie that isn't decided by the existing tie-breakers is unlikely, it is possible so what happens then if a semi-final or final winner can't be decided?
What do you think? Should playoff flights that use the 4-court format use Points Per Position scoring?
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