HOLY SMOKES, I AGREE WITH WAYNE DOLLARD

By Charles E. Vasoll

I don’t know the origin of the expression “Holy Smokes” but I believe that it relates to a miracle of some nature. And a miracle it is when I agree with Wayne Dollard, the publisher of Platform Tennis Magazine. In the September issue, Vol. 6 Number 6(?) in an article entitled “Point Counter Point”, Dollard extols the virtue of the “back-draw” and compliments the APTA for banning players from a tournament in a future year if they default in a consolation or reprieve portion of a tournament.

In the article, Art Williams, a National Champion from Chicago, takes the other point of view. He claims that, as players, we “have to make choices on the proper use of our time”. He points out that the USTA doesn’t require back-draw participation. He states a player is better at home than playing a match that is not necessary.

The APTA penalty was proposed and championed by long time President of the Long Island Platform Tennis Association, C. William [Bill] Jones, when he served on the APTA Board of Directors. It came about as the result of his experience when LIPTA conducted a Senior National 45+ Championship. Several teams, after losing in the main draw, “disappeared”. They failed to report for the consolation event and some didn’t even have the courtesy to advise the Tournament Director or anyone else in authority that they were leaving.

The result was, as Dollard points out in his column, a disaster for those remaining, particularly those who came from out-of-town for the National Championship competition. Those that didn’t play a second round were even upset with those who conducted the tournament as though it was their fault that there was no match to be played. Bill Jones had had it. When the opportunity presented itself at the Board meeting, he proposed the penalty that was approved and on the books for many years. If a team did not participate in a back-draw (as the Consolations and Reprieves are called) the team would be prohibited from playing in that tournament the following year.

Unfortunately, that did not end the practice nor did it completely solve the problem. Only a few players were actually penalized and when word of the penalty being enforced was heard around the circuit, a new ploy was evoked. As recently as the 2002 National Championships, held on Long Island of which I was Tournament Chairman, one team “disappeared” and several others literally “threw” their back-draw match so they did not have to continue to play. In other events, injuries have been “faked”. All of this is a disgrace and an insult to a Tournament Committee that works so hard and puts in uncountable hours to make the event “special” for everyone.

Dollard indicates that a new rule has been placed in effect for this season under which a voluntary full feed-in consolation/reprieve draw will be instituted in each men’s ranking tournament for the 2004-2005 season. As Dollard states, “The change will either be a blessing for Tournament Directors (less matches due to defaults) or a scheduling nightmare trying to determine who is still playing in the draws.”

I don’t believe the new rule will improve the situation. While it will provide matches, (theoretically, at least) the competition is unlikely to have the caliber of play that the teams in this portion of the tournament are hoping to find. Usually the better teams, who come only to win, will go home and those who play for the fun and improvement of their game will remain. The opportunity to play against a higher talented team will in all likelihood not be available.

I don’t know the answer, but it seems to me that we may be heading towards a separate class of teams. If you only want to play in the Main Draw, maybe that’s the only draw to have for the tournament. Eliminate the back-draws entirely in the ranking and National Championships and see what happens. I wonder who is going to travel any distance to enter these tournaments? If the number of entries is down now, what will the abandonment of a back-draw do? I think it will destroy the tournaments.

It’s certainly unfortunate that it has become necessary to police this kind of behavior in our sport that has always had an excellent reputation for real sportsmanship.

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