The Direct

In my previous entry, I wrote about game ball and match ball, the twin verbal scourges on our scoring system. What I didn’t address was the issue of double match balls. Starting last month, the PSA has revised it terrible tiebreaker scoring system. No longer was it reported 11-10 (5-3) or something (meaning the actual score was 15-13). But they blew it in not reverting to the old American tiebreaking system. (more…)

The new PSA scoring system (same scoring to 11, point a rally, but simpler way of reporting it when the game goes into overtime) is wrongheaded on two accounts, and it is a travesty that they did not take this opportunity to make changes. My first beef is that they did not get rid of “game ball” and “match ball.” Ever since the fifties (not time immemorial), British scoring has meant that the referee intones, late in a game, “game ball.” And when a player has a match point, “game ball, match ball.”
As if. (more…)