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.