7. "Placing" is prohibited. Placing occurs, for example, when the committee in a 16-draw event seeds four and "places" four. The practice of placing is an attempt to hide the fact that in reality eight players have been seeded instead of the permissible maximum of four. The rule of "one in four" was established to provide some matches between strong players in the first round, to increase the variety of a player's opponents, and to get away from the "strong-weak-strongweak" pattern in the draw, thereby giving players who are usually first-round losers an occasional opportunity to meet each other and advance to the second or third round. No matter how sure the committee is of its own omniscience, this is a rule that should not be violated.

8. Block seeding. Block seeding is authorized in tournaments of the level of sectional championships and below. It may take the following form: In a hypothetical 32-player tournament, the Tournament Committee might nominate four outstanding entrants to be literally "standing-out" quarterfinalists. The rest of the field would play down to fill the other four quarterfinal spots. (This would mean, of course, the total field in that tournament was 36.) In a larger event the standing-out players might be eight in number, and the rest of the field would play down to another eight to make up pairings for the round of 16.

9. General Questions. General questions about seeding in adult tournaments should be directed to the Adult/Senior Competition Committee of the USTA (Click here to go to the Adult/Senior Competition web page). Specific questions about seeding should be directed to the tournament director of the tournament in question. Ultimately, tournament directors are responsible for
seeding.