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The USTA wants to sanction alternative scoring methods for the period of July 1, 2000 to December 31 2001.  The changes include short sets (first to 4 games, win by 2, tiebreaker at 4-4); tiebreaker in lieu of 3rd set; "Sudden Death" which is a 3rd set, first to 2 games, win by 2, tiebreaker at 2-2 and No Ad scoring (at the national level). Following is the entire text of the proposal.  If you do not want these scoring changes, email me, your sectional president, sectional delegate, executive director,  David Schobel, Joe Rasgado and Nancy Reed.

Part of tennis is being in shape. Tournament scheduling software is written to take into consideration the variation in match times and does a good job. If tennis is fun to play, do you want to play less?   How do you teach beginners how to keep score now?

USTA Regulation X.D.1: Results Considered for National Rankings- 1. Matches considered for Adult and Senior National Ranking.  Standard format matches in all sanctioned  tournaments shall be considered for ranking.  Alternative format matches in main draws and qualifying rounds of USTA National championships shall be considered for ranking if their use is authorized in advance by the Adult/Senor Competition Committee.  Alternative format matches in consolation draws of USTA National Championships shall be considered for ranking if the Adult/Senior Competition Committee or the Adult/Senor Competition Ranking Review Committee approves of their consideration for ranking.  Alternative format matches in all other tournaments shall be considered for ranking only if their use for ranking is authorized by the Adult/Senior Competition Committee.
(The Adult Senior Competition Committee will vote on this September third!)  Joe Rasgado heads the Adult/Senior Competition Committee).  If these alternative formats are approved, they can be used at the sectional and national level.)

Rule 26 - Score in a Game

To consider a proposal from the Board of Directors that Rule 26 (b) be  amended as follows:

  1. Optional Alternative Scoring System
The No Ad System of Scoring may be adopted as an alternative to the traditional scoring system  until 31 December 2000 provided the decision is announced in advance of the event.

In this case, the following Rules shall be effective:

If a player wins his first point, the score is called 15 for that  player; on winning his second point, the score is called 30 for that  player; on winning his third point, the score is called 40 for that  player, and the fourth point won by a player is scored the game for
at player except as below:

If both players have won three points, the score is called deuce; one deciding point shall then be played.  Whereby The receiver shall choose whether he wishes to receive the service from the right-half of the court or the left-half of the court.  The layer who wins the deciding point is scored the game.
 
Doubles

In doubles a similar procedure to that for singles shall apply.  At deuce the Receiving Team shall choose whether it wishes to receive the Service from the right-half of the court or the left-half of the court.  The team who win the deciding point is scored the game.

Mixed doubles
In mixed doubles, a slightly different procedure will apply as follows: At deuce, with the male player serving, he shall serve to the male player of the opposing team irrespective of which half of the court he is standing, and when the female player is   serving, she shall serve to the female player of the opposing team.

Report of the Board of Directors

The Board believes that the experiments carried out over the past two years have proved quite successful and the optional No Ad Scoring system is currently used by a large number of players at different levels.  It has been an almost unanimous opinion that the No Ad Scoring system makes the matches shorter in time and also reduces the differences in match length, while at the same time the system injects another element of excitement.  jThe Board of Directors believes that even though the ATP Tour and WTA Tour currently are not considering using the system at their events, this optional alternative scoring system would be beneficial to many tournament organizers who would be free to use this system at any level provided it is advertised in advance of the event like the tie-break system of scoring.  The Board of Directors recommends acceptance of this proposal.