New Rackets World Championship Procedures
We are delighted to announce that the Boards of the T&RA and NARA have approved new rules for the Rackets World Championships, the key components of which are:
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World Championship Challenge Matches will take place automatically every 2 years (other than in very exceptional circumstances),
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Singles Challenges will take place in each even year and Doubles in each odd year,
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The identity of a Challenger(s) will be determined by a new World Championship Challenge Points System based upon performance over the previous two seasons,
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The new Procedures come in to effect immediately with the next Singles Challenge Match in the 2015/16 season.
The new challenge process operates in a similar way to the points based system successfully adopted by real tennis some 15 years ago. Challenges will no longer be determined by a committee decision.
Over the last few years, there has been an increasing mood that the rules for Rackets World Championships, particularly how challenges are determined, needed revision. So in the Spring this year, a committee was appointed to review the existing World Championships Guidelines. The Committee, which was chaired by Patrick Maxwell, comprised representatives from the T&RA (Tim Cockroft, Alan Lovell and John Prenn) and NARA (Neil Smith and Jonathan Larken). The new Procedures are the product of 4 months of intense debate, thorough analysis and wide consultation by this Committee.
The last World Championship Challenge match under the old rules will be the Doubles Match between the current World Champions, William Hopton & James Coyne, and the Challengers, Alex Titchener-Barrett & Christian Portz. The first leg will be in Chicago on 25th April 2015 with the second leg a week later at Queen’s on 2nd May 2015.
Quote from William Maltby (Chairman of the T&RA) and Jeff Yager (President of NARA):
These changes to the Rackets World Championships Procedures are a huge and exciting step forward for the game as a whole. We heartily thank Patrick Maxwell and his Committee for their hard work and congratulate them on producing such a well thought out package. We are confident that the increased transparency for challengers will encourage talented young players and a higher level of play at the top end of the game.
September 2014