Newsletter #5
Combo 2008
August 18, 2008
Hey, Captains,
The Combo season is well under way. Judging from the number of emails we are not receiving in the office your matches are going smoothly. That means you captains are working hard and working well. Thank you so much!
This newsletter contains information about
Wildcards
Districts
Post Season Oddities
Ratings
Rule question of the day. Test yourself. What would you have done?
Wildcards have been posted.
Go to this link to see if your area has a wildcard.
>http://www.norcal.usta.com/leagues/custom.sps?iType=2999&icustompageid=14815
If your flight has a wildcard, it means that the top two teams advance to post season play. They can agree to skip their last playoff round.
District Championship Schedules have not yet been created. There are so many of you (total teams up from 492 last year to 632 this year!) that we will be using multiple sites in the Fresno area. Once schedules are finalized we will publish them on the web and you can start making plans. In the meantime, keep winning your matches! It’s not too early to mark your calendars with the dates. In fact, all the important league dates can be found in the Calendar link in the drop down menu under Team Info on your Team Page. (Good time to check out all the helpful links there.)
Post Season Oddities:
The usual route through our season is this: local league to playoffs to Districts to Section Championships. There are, however, always exceptions, usually at our higher and lower levels. Here are this season’s exceptions:
No Districts for 5.5 Men and 9.5 men. Playoff winners go directly to Section Championships.
Everyone else. (Yes, 5.5 women, this means you, too!) See you at Districts.
Ratings continue to perplex some of you or your players.
ESRS are used for joining Senior League teams. They are not used for players joining Combo teams. Nevertheless, they can affect your team. Opponents may see a player, usually a self rated player, on your team who has an new ESR higher than the level posted for him on your roster, and this is information that can be used to support an NTRP complaint or a Self Rate Grievance. A higher ESR in itself is not reason to worry; many players just squeak up into that new level. This warning applies mostly to an ESR that a player has generated based on an Adult league record of outstanding play. Especially at the lower levels, a player can outgrow his self rating very quickly, and out of fairness to all, you should be using that player at the level at which he now plays, not at the level he estimated when he joined league play way back in the Spring.
Rating Appeals. Please let your players know that if they are not playing on a Senior team, there is no reason to appeal an ESR. All league players will receive a Year End rating in November, and this is the rating they will use for our 2009 Championship Year.
Rule Question: What would you have done?
Team A is playing Team B, all three matches on adjacent courts #1 , #2 #3, with no fences between. A ball rolls onto court #1 from court #2 and a player from court #2 calls, “Ball on.” Only Mary on court #1 hears the call, and she goes to clear the ball. Just as she does this, the opponent serves to her partner and her partner returns the ball. The opponent then hits a winner to the empty side of the court, empty because Mary is off clearing a ball.
The serving team claims the point, arguing that Mary’s partner returned the ball, indicating readiness and that the point should count. Mary argued that she was clearing a ball and the point should be replayed.
Which of the following rules applies?
Friend At Court, The Code, page 56, #29, Receiver readiness: “The receiver shall play to the reasonable pace of the server. The receiver should make no effort to return a serve when the receiver is not ready. If a player attempts to return a serve then the receiver (or receiving team) is presumed to be ready.
Friend At Court, Rules of Tennis, page 22, #26 Hindrance: “The point shall be replayed if a player is hindered in playing the point by either an unintentional act of the opponent(s) or something outside the player’s own control.”
Common courtesy/Common sense: Come on here; this is just tennis! How would you like this to be resolved if you or your team found themselves in the same situation as Mary?