Expert: Jim Leupold - 3/20/2007

Question
Jim thanks for listening and I hope you can help. Also (and not that this matters) but I started my career in Hotel Management at Marriott's Camelback Inn in Scottsdale in 1972 while attending ASU. Great company and I went on to become a GM at Marriott's and others ending as a VP Op's until three years ago when I decided to write a book. Here is the deal and again I hope you can help. I am in the process of finishing the book which is a fictionalized love stoty ending with the US Open tennis tournament and a tie breaker. The action is fast and furious and I and my editor believe it has to be factually correct. We have a few questions and were wondering if you could answer them as our deadline is approaching fast. (1.) Is the tie breaker in the Men's US Open always a seven point tie breaker or can it be a ten point tie breaker if the rules committee decides to go that route in any particular year? (2.) In a tie breaker how often do they change sides and what determines that and how is it determined who serves first when the tie breaker starts and how does the serving go/progress from there?  (3.) I assume the first person to seven or ten must win by two points?  (4.)Our hero is a come back kid and must qualify to get into the tournament. How many people (just ballpark) try to qualify on average and actually make it into the US Open tournament?  (5.) How many players on average are invited to play in the tournament when it begins? (6.) I assume those invited are invited by their rankings and seeded as such too? (7.)Doesn't high seed or rank then face low seed or rank in sectionals throughout the two week tournament with winners advancing to the final 16 and then to the semi finals and then finally to the final two on Championship Sunday (men) and  Saturday (women)?  (8.) Our Hero is serving after tremendous training at about 135 to 142 MPH on his best and fastest serves. I believe that is considered very fast but that is what we want it to be--like a Samprus or Roddick, etc. Is that speed for the best servers in the game realistic? Thanks very much Jim. Again greatly appreciated.  

Answer
Ugh.  I went through all of this once...was almost finished when I went to the US Open website to get more information and I lost this page.  It's late, but I'll try again.....

(1.) Is the tie breaker in the Men's US Open always a seven point tie breaker or can it be a ten point tie breaker if the rules committee decides to go that route in any particular year?  It's a 12-point tie-breaker (first to 7 points by two), and it has been that way for a long time.  It doesn't mean that the USTA at some point might not change that rule, but I don't see it happening any time soon.  

(2.) In a tie breaker how often do they change sides and what determines that and how is it determined who serves first when the tie breaker starts and how does the serving go/progress from there?  

The players change sides every 6 points.  The tie-break (by the way, "tie-break" and not "tie-breaker" is the correct terminology) is treated like another game.  Therefore, if you serve to tie the set at 6-all, I would start serving in the tie-break.  You would start serving the first game of the next set.  The first server serves one point from the deuce side.  After that the servers each serve two points, one from the ad side followed by one point from the deuce side, until one player wins 7 points by at least two points.  

(4.)Our hero is a come back kid and must qualify to get into the tournament. How many people (just ballpark) try to qualify on average and actually make it into the US Open tournament?  The qualifying tournament has 128 players in it.  16 of those players will make it into the main draw which also has 128 players.  

(6.) I assume those invited are invited by their rankings and seeded as such too?  correct

(7.)Doesn't high seed or rank then face low seed or rank in sectionals throughout the two week tournament with winners advancing to the final 16 and then to the semi finals and then finally to the final two on Championship Sunday (men) and  Saturday (women)?

There's no such thing as "sectionals" in the US Open tournament.  To win the whole event, your hero will have to win 7 matches in the main draw, once he has won 3 rounds of qualifying.  The first three rounds are just called first, second and third rounds, then the round of 16, then the quarter-finals, then the semi-finals and then the finals.  

(8.) Our Hero is serving after tremendous training at about 135 to 142 MPH on his best and fastest serves. I believe that is considered very fast but that is what we want it to be--like a Samprus or Roddick, etc. Is that speed for the best servers in the game realistic?

Yes, most of the top servers in the game today are serving at those speeds.  In fact, many of the top players in the game are routinely serving in the low 130's.  Roddick has the fastest serve recorded professionally at 155 mph.  

Thanks very much Jim. Again greatly appreciated.  

My pleasure!

Jim Leupold
20-year Director of Tennis, Desert Springs, A JW Marriott Resort & Spa