9vicman wrote:

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Hadn't appreciated that the individual NCAAs had moved from May to November the previous year. An interesting decision so early I'm the school year.

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 And this is the impact - no guaranteed US Open slot

"With the NCAA singles and doubles championships moving to the fall this year, the US Open main draw wild card for an American winner was likely to change, given the nine months from the NCAAs in November until next August's US Open. While there was never a guaranteed wild card, the American singles and doubles champions have traditionally received US Open wild cards, with just one exception this century.

Earlier this month Division I college coaches were notified of a new format, which will guarantee that wild card, but it will not necessarily go to Novembers NCAA champions. Instead the USTA will hold a four-player/team playoff for the US Open wild card next spring; the NCAA champion and finalist, if American, will automatically be included, with two other American collegians selected to join them. If, as happened with the women in 2023 and the men in 2019, no American is in the final, all four American collegians will be selected by a committee to compete in the playoff.

In one sense, this is an improvement, as it guarantees a US Open wild card to an American collegian every year. But there is no obvious advantage to winning the NCAAs if you are already one of the top Americans in college tennis. Knowing what was on the line in the NCAA final always added drama to the event; stakes still exist, but they aren't nearly as high as they were when the individual tournament was held in May. An American NCAA champion losing in the semifinals of the playoff will have nothing to show for his/her NCAA title in November, in the realm of wild cards anyway."

https://tenniskalamazoo.blogspot.com/

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ggchu8yrYH1dlYCPdFUfr0g7J6nYtdHS/view