NEWS: 5x7 : hammer's down?

[kwun]

an <a target=top_ href="http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2001/5/22/sports/2239pdth&sec=sports">article</a> saying that IBF says all tournaments after the WC <i>would</i> use the new scoring format. does that mean it is final?

[cooler]

yes, that's IBF final answer. Hope it is worth a million bucks.

[May]

i dun think dat IBF will want to swallow their pride and kick the 5x7 out without major discontent. and dat should have to come from the pros and not us.

[Byro-Nenium]

Whatever the IBF's decision, i will always use the 15x3..... unless i play a tournament.....

[Mag]

As I have mentioned previously, 5x7 has been decided here in Sweden for next season, on all levels of competition. 3x15 simply doesn't exist here anymore...

I played a 5x7 tournament this weekend. I found it suited me very well in singles (but in doubles it still feels weird).

In a sense I think it's good:

Very uneven matches, where one side is much better than the other, last much shorter now. This is good -- they are boring to play and boring to watch.

However, the even matches seem to go on for as long as before, somehow... there were several matches that dragged on for an hour or more, despite that 5x7 is less than 3x15.

All in all, I think it is better for the spectators.

[Mark]

good for spectators.....so what!

I think the player's enjoyment of the game comes first, doesn't it?

I personally hate 5x7. My biggest gripe is that the game is a lot shorter. There was this whole thing about spectator enjoyment, but I don't see why this new format has improved things. Tennis spectators will watch a game that lasts 3 hours!

Even 5 x 9 would have been better, alteast the points required to win (45) over full sets would have been the same.

Then there was the stuff about advertising and television coverage. They've stuffed that up because there only allowing 90 seconds between sets. Not much time for adverts or the commentators to analyse anything.

It just seems like a mess to me. Gone are the days of titanic come-backs from being 11-1 down and stuff like that.

Mark