A Strange Game That Showed Up On The Ladder Standings

I was checking the ladder standings the other day, and looked at my win/loss statistics there, and I noticed that one of the extra matches that I had played that was not a ladder match had been reported there, apparently by my opponent. Of course, he would have an incentive to do that, since he beat me. But I didn't have any idea that you could even report such matches.

So I went to all the written material that I could find on the ladder (the rules, the FAQ file, etc.) and found nothing authorizing reporting matches played outside the ladder. Of course, I found nothing prohibiting it, either. And then I looked at all the pages I could find to see if there was any way to enter such matches, but I could not find any means to enter the results of matches that were not officially played on the ladder. Heck, I've played huge numbers of matches that I could report, and I've won most of them, even against some players that are a lot higher than me on the ladder.

I emailed the ladder coordinator and asked him how one reported extra matches, and told him I had a whole bunch of matches that I could report if extra matches were allowed. He told me that people were allowed to email him to enter extra matches, but didn't seem too happy about the prospect of entering all of the matches I had played. He said he might set up an extra page to enter them.

But then I started thinking about the effect on all of the people I played if I reported all of those matches. I had not made any arrangement beforehand to report those matches, and maybe some or all of those people would be upset that I did so. I felt kind of annoyed that the match that was reported in which I played was listed there without my prior knowledge or agreement that it would be reported. I confirmed with a couple of players that I talked to that, yes, they would be upset if a match that was not officially part of the ladder was reported, and both of them indicated that they probably would not play that person again.

Well, I am trying to play large numbers of matches, and I don't want to do anything that would upset people who might play me to the point that they would not want to play against me. And I don't really think it's fair to report matches outside the ladder when: 1) there is no statement in the rules that such matches will be reported, 2) there is no way immediately apparent to enter them other than contacting the person who runs the ladder, 3) both players have not assented and confirmed the score, and 4) some players may be playing those matches to try out new form or technique rather than strictly to compete.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not pissed off at the person who runs the ladder. I think he's doing a lot of work to make it so lots of us can play more tennis. Anything I can do to make his job easier is OK with me. I've probably already sent him enough emails about stuff to make him think I might be kind of high-maintenance, even though I'm trying to just be a cog in the wheel.

I did email him and tell him that I won't report those extra matches after all. That is really the only fair thing to do, since I made no agreement to do so with my opponents. So I'll just grit my teeth and live with one more loss listed on the ladder. It certainly doesn't do me any good, though, as I have a hard enough time convincing people at the top of the ladder to play me even though I've beaten a good number of players near the top. But they don't know that because those games aren't reported. Meanwhile, my ascent up the ladder is slowly progressing as I win the majority of my ladder matches.