College tennis

Women's doubles in college tennis between Texas A&M players (back) and Texas (April 2008)

College Tennis designated as part of the university sports tennis that at universities ( colleges and universities ) in the USA is played. College tennis is popular among women and men.

organization

The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) organizes the majority of the tournaments, partly in cooperation with the United States Tennis Association (USTA). The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is also important in the event of rule changes . This is also the organizer of the annual championships. The ITA also compiles the college tennis rankings .

Game operation

A college tennis season is divided into the fall season and the spring season. The fall season starts in September. The highlights are the ITA Men's All-American Championships and ITA Women's All-American Championships in September or October, and the ITA National Fall Championships in November. The spring season includes the ITA Division I National Men's Team Indoor Championship and ITA Division I National Women's Team Indoor Championship , as well as the regular season and the postseason . The last-mentioned formats are organized in so-called conferences . The end of a season is the NCAA Division I Tennis Championships in May. The prestigious tournament determines the national champions of college tennis every year. There are also so-called sanctioned tournaments distributed over the entire season . The results of all these competitions are included in the calculation of the ITA ranking list.

regulate

An encounter between two teams is called a dual match and consists of three doubles and six singles. The team that wins two doubles wins the first point. The singles bring the winner one point each, so that a total of seven points are awarded. The game is played in the best-of-seven mode , so that the winner is determined when a team has reached four points. Depending on the tournament format, all ongoing matches - which are insignificant for the outcome of the overall competition - will then be canceled or played to the end. In the first case, DNF ( Did not finish ) is noted in the match report .

While the singles are played on two sets of wins according to the usual tennis rules, a special rule applies to the doubles: Only one set is played here, which is decided if one of the two doubles wins eight games. You need a two game lead to win. To reduce the playing time, a tie-break is played when the score is 8: 8 , which decides the match.

In recent years there have been increasing efforts to reduce the length of matches in order to make college tennis more attractive for the audience. In doubles, only one regular set of up to six is ​​played instead of eight. In addition, the no-ad rule was introduced, which states that a decisive ball is played at the start. Warming up with the enemy has been abolished. So far, the rule changes only apply to NCAA Division I.

Career

A career in college tennis typically lasts four years. In NCAA Division I, there is an age limit of 24 years, which must not be exceeded. Many players come from outside the United States and are studying on a tennis scholarship . After the end of their college career, the particularly ambitious players try to assert themselves on the professional tour. Well-known professionals who have played in college tennis in the past include Benjamin Becker , John Isner , Kevin Anderson, and Steve Johnson .

Web links

• www.ncaa.com (English)
• www.itatennis.com (English)
• www.collegetennisonline.com (English)
• www.tennisrecruiting.net (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ITA announces new Division I dual meet format. In: itatennis.com. Intercollegiate Tennis Association, August 6, 2014, accessed January 4, 2017 . 
2. ↑ Benjamin Becker. In: baylorbears.com. Baylor University , accessed October 21, 2014 . 
3. ↑ John Isner. In: georgiadogs.com. University of Georgia , accessed October 21, 2014 . 
4. ↑ Kevin Anderson. In: fightingillini.com. University of Illinois , accessed January 4, 2017 . 
5. ↑ Steve Johnson. In: usctrojans.com. University of Southern California , accessed October 21, 2014 .