. Selections, Seedings, and Draws! Selections and seeds are attached as an Excel document.  The first sheet has the singles selections.  Click on the tab labeled 'Doubles' on the bottom to access doubles selections.   The draw will be out on Thursday, hopefully.  It will be made by official Don Cortese.

 
2. Parking!  On Friday you will be allowed to park in Kresge lot.  Here it is on the campus map: http://whereis.mit.edu/?selection=P29&zoom=15
It's the lot right next to the outdoor tennis courts.  You must identify yourself by school and say "ITA TOURNAMENT"; the person at the gate will have a list of schools competing.  Officials should state their name and that they are officials for the ITA TOURNAMENT.  This lot is for teams and officials only!  On Saturday and Sunday you may park in any lot where the gate is up.

 
3. H1N1 Virus and Handshakes!!!  I know handshakes are an ingrained part of tennis matches.  However, in light of the H1N1 virus, please let your players know that we will do waves instead of handshakes at the conclusion of matches.  We have done this for our conference (NEWMAC) matches, and the ITA has also recommended that we temporarily move away from how we normally operate.  Please talk to your players beforehand so that we can avoid awkward encounters.

 
4. Coaches Meeting! The MANDATORY Coaches Meeting will be held on Friday morning at 8am.  We'll meet at the outdoor tennis courts; we'll meet at the Tennis Bubble if raining.  Play begins at the conclusion of the meeting.  Coaches must come to the meeting; players can stay at sites they are going to play at.

 
4. Playing Venues! If we are playing outdoors, everyone will meet at the outdoor tennis courts.  If indoors, players should report directly to their assigned venue.  We will have two indoor venues - the Tennis Bubble and the Fieldhouse.
Outdoor Tennis courts - http://whereis.mit.edu/?selection=G12&zoom=15
The Tennis Bubble - http://whereis.mit.edu/?selection=W53&zoom=15
The Fieldhouse (3rd floor) - http://whereis.mit.edu/?selection=W35&zoom=15
If indoors, I will run the desk at the Tennis Bubble and my assistant, Dan Griffin, who did an excellent job of running things at the Fieldhouse last year, will do the same this year.

 
5. Racket Stringing! There will be limited racket stringing services provided at the tournament. Another one of my assistants, Peter Varnum, will run this service. He will be able to string rackets Friday evening and Saturday morning. This service is intended for players who break strings AT the tournament and need rackets for their next match. The charge is $25, or $20 if you bring your own string. We have Prince Syngut 16g.

 
6. Schedule of play!  
Right now it looks like as if we will have 3 sunny days!!  We'll go with the usual plan of:
Friday 8am start: 2 rounds of singles, 1 round of consolation singles, 2 rounds of doubles, 1 round of consolation doubles
Saturday 9am start: 2 rounds of singles, 2 rounds of consolation singles, 2 rounds of doubles, 2 rounds of consolation doubles
Sunday 9am start: 2 rounds of singles, 2 rounds of consolation singles, 1 rounds of doubles, 1 round of consolation doubles

 
If it does rain on Friday (and good weather Saturday and Sunday,) we'd still like to get the players as much tennis as possible.  Therefore, we'd like to still hold the consolation rounds.  This means get ready for a long Friday.  This is the plan for Rainy-Friday, Sunny-Saturday, and Sunny-Sunday:
Friday 8am start: 2 rounds of main draw singles, 1 round of consolation singles, 1 round of main draw doubles (Note: The top halves of all the draws will play at the tennis bubble; the bottom halves of all the draws will play at the fieldhouse.  The doubles round will not start earlier than 2pm.)
Saturday 9am start: 2 rounds of everything (singles, doubles, consolation singles, consolation doubles)
Sunday 9am start: 2 rounds of everything (singles, doubles, consolation singles, consolation doubles) to finish out the tournament

 
At ALL sites we will have the On-Deck-Index-Card system at the tournament desks, so players should be able to look at the board and see if they are close to getting on.
Please note that because of the number of matches, we may use indoor courts for consolation play even if the weather is nice.  And as always, please be flexible if the weather changes unexpectedly.  We have tried our best to be as prepared as possible.

 
7. Tournament Format!
Doubles: 8 game pro sets throughout, make sure we use 4 balls per match (new ITA rule for this year)
Singles: 2 out of 3 sets, with supertiebreaker in the third set until the quarters. From the quarters on, play out the third set.

 
8. Sports Medicine!! The Athletic Training Room is located on the first floor of the Zesiger Athletic Center (where the Fieldhouse is.) If your players require treatment modalities from the Athletic Training Room, make sure that she has a note from your respective Athletic Training Office.

 
9. Warmup! Warmup will be on a first come first serve basis starting at 7am at all sites.  Please be considerate and take efficient warmups so that people can cycle through.

 
10. Tournament Director, Carol Matsuzaki's  cell # is 617 513 3518.