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Old 06-30-2008, 11:52 AM   #15
Young Drachma
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Join Date: Apr 2001
I obviously understand tennis scoring, but the sport is already dying a slow death at the top levels, because kids don't play it like they used to. And I used to always tell kids as they get involved that the scoring was the hardest part of teaching them tennis. Which might sound hilarious, but I stand by that.


It's still a big foreign sport, but it's popularity surely isn't what it used to be. Changing the scoring to be more logical isn't a huge thing, but it's certainly a step in the right direction. Sorta like volleyball moving to rally scoring. I mean, it was a simple -- but radical -- change that took a while, but it'll make the sport a lot more watchable long term, because you can follow it easier.

Not every sport ought to be designed for spectators, mind you, but at the point people start to lose interest and it becomes more and more of a niche, the sponsors will find other ways to spend their money and move on.

Golf scoring is strange from the way it's presented, but it's not that complicated on the whole. I've had a way easier time explaining golf scoring to someone, than tennis scoring. It might surely be the way I present stuff, but...I'd say that changing the match scoring to be more logical couldn't hurt at all.

I'm not sure what way I'd change it. When I setup a juniors league at the camp I taught at a few years back, the lowest division for tennis beginners wouldn't even use tennis scoring. We just played first person to win 15 points by 2.

As a player, I like being able to "start over" psychologically after each game and I think that it's a huge part of the game. I don't know that you could change it in any other way, than maybe if you ultimately did what Twenty20 Cricket did to regular cricket, to make the game more "interesting."

Last edited by Young Drachma : 06-30-2008 at 11:52 AM.
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