A special note: Thank you to all of you who expressed your enthusiasm for this website while attending the US Open. Knowing that you use it and like it is what makes it all wothwhile.

July in Ft. Lauderdale brought about the eagerly awaited tournament. Registration was brisk. Y.C. and Fay Lee worked above and beyond to the point of stuffing all of the goodie bags for the players. More than a year in preperation and anticipation would have the best players in the world like Koji Matsushita, come to the US. Unfortunately, that's about all some of them did. show up and practice.

For example, Waldner and Karlsson worked out for two days. As it turns out, the ITTF had made promises (unbeknownest to the tournament staff or USATT) to the professional players association that were not realistic for this event. There was even a letter generated by the ITTF to the players making absolute guarantees that could never be met.

When in fact they were not met, a few of the top players decided they had better things to do while in Florida. Play golf, lie on the beach, hang out at the pool, things like that. USATT did little to try to calm the irate players all of whom still wanted to play on Thursday morning. This was unfortunate. What was worse is that the president of the players association then went around recruiting other players to drop out. As a matter of fact, he seemed to take a childish glee in trying to ruin the tournament.

He did not succeed. There were approximately 1000 players at the event. Around 10 withdrew and watched. For the spectators who drove or flew hundreds (or thousands) of miles and spent untold money, just to see those players play, they showed no remorse, only a "that's too bad" attitude. Not very professional.

The tournament itself had major problems. The first day, time schedules put together at the last minute created too many unwieldy conflicts which stalled play. Someone cannot be in two or three places at once. Some matches fell 3, 4, 5, even 6 hours behind as people waited and were rescheduled for later days. The main draw for the Men's side of the Pro Tour appeared to have some problems like people from the same countries playing each other in early rounds.

Copies of the draw were distributed. A jury meeting was scheduled, announced, and held so that any protests or complaints about the draw could be made. No player or coach filed a protest or made an official complaint. As a matter of fact no one even filed an unofficial protest, so the draw was accepted as it was. (this is standard ITTF rules and practice). A day after the jury meeting and the official posting of the draw, suddenly there was a big noise about it.

This of course, only occurred after the matches were delayed and had to be rescheduled. If the matches were played on time, the players may not have even raised the issue. Because of the scheduling snafus the first day, people were stretched to the very limits of patience and tolerance. That night, after play was halted when the lights automatically went out in the hall at 23:30, the tournament staff put in Herculian efforts to correct the problems.

Special thanks need to go to Terri Weaver (the Assistant Tournament Director) and Margeret Smith (USATT staff from CO. Springs). Terri worked more than 20 hours straight and Ms. Smith worked 36 straight hours to assure that the rest of the tournament schedule was achievable. Several others put in their time as well. With out their efforts, there would have been a total melt down of the event.

As it was, many of the players who came the second day did not understand the trauma that people experianced the previous day. Most of the participants had a great time in Florida. For Terry Canup and Allen Barth, the Chief Umpire & Assistant, it was a tournament that they will never forget.

There will forever be an image burned into memory of what seemed an inexhaustable group of Japanese umpires holding up their name tags and requesting an assignment for their next match. Many friends were made at this tournament. Almost 50 umpires were utilized throughout the event. The enthusiasm and desire of the vast majority of these made the hard times bearable.

With the next two years here in Houston, it would have been better if this had been a trouble free event. As it is, it simply will make Houston look that much better by comparison. Now it's up to Seth to get the word out!