Pros and Customs on tour: Please don't knee-jerk ban it!

by **C4iLL** » Wed, 27 Apr 2011 11:43

I agree, pros should be played, it would be funnier !

by **tigerofintegrity** » Wed, 27 Apr 2011 12:04

Pros are actually a lot of fun to play so a pro tour might be worthwhile. In order to counter 90% Nadal on the pro tour, what about a system whereby everyone is randomly assigned one of the pro players during the tournament draw and has to compete with that player for the entire tournament? So the way it would work is, in order to make sure every pro is equally represented, make the normal draw for the players first and after that, assign each player to a pro. So for Federer, one player in the tournament is randomly chosen to play as him and then another is chosen to play as Nadal etc. until all the pros have been distributed. Then the cycle repeats again until everyone is handed a pro.

I think this is good for several reasons. Firstly, it obviously brings a lot of diversity to the tournaments and stops 50% being just the one player. Every pro is represented in every tournament and it should be great fun playing different pros by different users all the time. Two matches will almost never be the same combination of user and pro.

Secondly, I think it forces everyone to be more versatile. You'll be given different types of players to use during different tournaments so you really have to master all aspects of the game in order to constantly do well. No more neglecting volleying!

Thirdly, it may help balance the gulf between the top players and the lower ranked players. Top players won't always get the best pro to use and may have to face off against lesser players with stronger pros or have a pro that matches up well against them. Also, maybe not all top players will be equally competent playing all pro players so I do think there is potential for more balance.

And fourthly, this is basically going to be a fun tour and this format sounds like a lot of fun! I find pros are fun to use and I think the tour for pros should reflect this.

Also, this would make it unique and distinct from the other tours. We don't want another clone tour. The emphasis on this one would be more on fun as opposed to ultra competitive.

What do people think of this idea?

by **SoundfSilence** » Wed, 27 Apr 2011 12:12

tiger

That is a wonderful idea! I think this would give more chance to the lower ranked players to get further in tournaments. It could also be a great challenge for the top ranked players to play with weaker pros.

by **lukkystef** » Wed, 27 Apr 2011 12:48

Really nice idea tiger!!!

It should be interesting to do a "test"tournament with pro player and with random selection!!!

by **Coolhand Texas** » Wed, 27 Apr 2011 14:40

All i know is that I would be pissed if i got stuck with tomic

by **Dynushi** » Wed, 27 Apr 2011 15:09

That Idea just sound great...nothing more to say.

by **VillaJ100** » Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:26

It actually is a good idea, being as i know how to volley also

by **tigerofintegrity** » Wed, 27 Apr 2011 21:11

Coolhand Texas wrote:All i know is that I would be pissed if i got stuck with tomic

The point of the tour is that you wouldn't be. For a start, it's random so you really only have to use him in one tournament and (unless you're really unlucky!) you would be with a different guy the following week. Besides, this tour should be more about fun than super competitiveness. If I got Tomic I'd probably just facepalm, laugh a bit and look forward to seeing how far I can get with him. Think of how satisfying it would feel to win matches if you had to use him!

People do seem to like the idea and I wonder what the 'people at the top of ITST' think about it. Do you guys like the idea cos if you do, it is something we could greenlight fairly soon. With the pros, everything's already in place and I think it would be nice to get another tour up asap to help ease those who are disliking the normal tour so much right now. I think it's something everyone can enjoy and even lower ranked players should be able to have a lot of fun with this.

by **djarvik** » Wed, 27 Apr 2011 21:23

It is not a new concept. We did something similar for TS3. But rather then doing it random we did in draft fashion. The lower ranked picked first.

Anyway, having a few tourneys like that for fun is great, but we are not setup to run a tour this way. The tour will remain as such, as close to the "real thing" as possible. If there is a SIM tour, it will be similar to what we did in the past.

by **tigerofintegrity** » Wed, 27 Apr 2011 21:42

djarvik wrote:It is not a new concept. We did something similar for TS3. But rather then doing it random we did in draft fashion. The lower ranked picked first.

Anyway, having a few tourneys like that for fun is great, but we are not setup to run a tour this way. The tour will remain as such, as close to the "real thing" as possible. If there is a SIM tour, it will be similar to what we did in the past.

That would mean the higher ranked players would always be stuck with the weaker pros. I think it would be less fun if you're pretty much stuck with the same one all the time. The randomness should provide a bit more excitement and more of a feeling of fairness for everyone.

It would be a separate tour but that would be the problem if you're suggesting that it would require more resources than the site has. Then there's not a lot that can be done about that. Just a shame I guess cos it does sound promising and fun.

by **djarvik** » Wed, 27 Apr 2011 21:57

I am not going to argue what is fun or what is not. But in my opinion, this will be fun as a Exhibition tourney, not as a tour. We try and copy ATP and WTA when it comes to the tour, and the last thing I would want is to play with different players that I dont want to play with. Sadly, the most fun part of this proposal is the day the random lottery picks happen, it will then seize being fun to me, especially so because I would like to use one pro, Wawrinka and no one else.

Conceptually is good, but more of an Arcade way of running a tour. An occasional exhibition tourney - yeah, great!

by **TomBs** » Wed, 27 Apr 2011 22:06

In the form of charity matches! Let everyone pay at least €5 to sign up, if they want they can donate more! All donations will go to a charity picked by the ITST-staff. Yes, of course the charity will be ITST

by **Baghdad Baghdatis** » Wed, 27 Apr 2011 22:37

TomBs, I really like this idea. Perhaps there could be a tournament twice a year for charity like the djarvik open and maybe even a itst donation only tournament - €3 for signup (exhibition). I am all for the supporting the site and some may wish to donate by benefactor would it should be optional and the funds, albeit maybe only €30 could be pumped back into the site?

by **tigerofintegrity** » Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:38

djarvik wrote:I am not going to argue what is fun or what is not. But in my opinion, this will be fun as a Exhibition tourney, not as a tour. We try and copy ATP and WTA when it comes to the tour, and the last thing I would want is to play with different players that I dont want to play with. Sadly, the most fun part of this proposal is the day the random lottery picks happen, it will then seize being fun to me, especially so because I would like to use one pro, Wawrinka and no one else.

Conceptually is good, but more of an Arcade way of running a tour. An occasional exhibition tourney - yeah, great!

Yeah I see your point as to why you and others might not like the concept. However, for every tour there are always going to be people who enjoy what it has to offer and those that don't. And that's ok. Those that don't simply don't participate in that tour and concentrate on others.

I don't agree with it being more of an 'arcade way of running a tour'. It would still follow the normal tour schedules as other tours. I know what you're getting at - using different players every tournament may feel more arcadey and reflect the real tour less. To me though, that doesn't really take away from a hypothetical pro tour. I see it as something that would be a nice mix between fun and competitive.

I don't really understand the policy behind ITST and maybe the primary goal is to bring as realistic a tour to the community as possible. However, I will say this. With a normal tour and presumably a SIM tour, this will already be highly represented. Branching off slightly like this would not have to compromise the integrity of the site. If people seem genuinely interested in the concept and it's not an unreasonable format, I don't see why pleasing the community can't be accommodated for.

*I also like Tombs' idea! It would be a nice way of generate a bit of buzz in the community whilst helping to fund the site. Best of both worlds.

by **djarvik** » Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:50

What you call branching out I call diluting. Integrity of the site is to follow APT/WTA tours and simulate for the users at home the life on the tour. So ideally we would want to run a one tour per game. The less "branching out" of that sort - the better. Branching out for us has a different meaning, it means hosting other tennis games.

Now is a perfect example of what will happen if we only do one more, tour, SIM:
(I am not saying we wont, just giving you an example. Bottom line we will try to give people what they want in a most viable form.)

Right now, we have around 200 signing up on a weekly basis for tournaments. This allows us to run Pro, Challenger and Future tournaments. This allows newcomers and casual players participate, reach QF, SF, Finals and win titles. Everyone can find his place on the tour. If we create a SIM tour, that number of participants will be split. So now, we no longer able to run Challengers all the weeks, maybe one per week, and definitely no features. So all the newcomers and casual players end up in the main draw, losing first round, leaving the website.

All I am saying, is by all means, brainstorm, bring ideas forth! Everything gets looked at. I may sound like a "block", a "wall", but I always have my reasoning behind, and usually it is very sound and with "ITST first" in mind.

Pros and Customs on tour: Please don't knee-jerk ban it!

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