I came across a link on a sports web site that I found very interesting. It is for the Association of Modern Tennis. This is a hybrid version of tennis that is nicknamed “moderno.” I am always interested in different or unique sports (I would be a charter subscriber to Obscure Sports Quarterly if it existed). But as a tennis purist, I am not overly thrilled with this. I would suspect that it stays in a niche type of category, like arena football and indoor soccer. Both are successful (to a degree), but neither has replaced the original sport.
I read over the rules quickly and it sounds interesting. It is really just a matter of scoring differently, and from what it seems, speed up a match. They have taken away double faults and play lets (World Team Tennis plays lets also, as well as not using “advantages” to speed up play). There is one glaring problem though with “moderno”, in my opinion. You play three sets, scoring points up to 24 top complete a set. But you play the three sets regardless if one player has won the first two or not. Why? Because it’s total points that count at the end of the three sets. Seems kind of pointless to call them sets or to even differentiate those points. I like the concept in tennis that each player starts from zero again after completion of a set. You can make a fresh start of it.
Anyway, I thought I would post it for the tennis fans out there.
July 30th, 2005 at 4:15 am
Here’s something else that’s just as obscure and takes from tennis. But I like it better than this “moderno” business.
It was called toccer (www.toccer.com), but now they call it tennis polo (www.tennispolo.com)
Interesting idea.