Dear 2021 US Open Participants,

We know there is no way to adequately apologize for the problems that arose at the 2021 US Open tournament, but we wanted you to know how truly sorry we are for how things turned out. The entire staff at USATT worked very hard to put together what should have been a great event, only to have things get derailed by a schedule that was overly optimistic and quickly fell apart as several matches took longer than expected, causing a snowball effect that quickly got out of control.

In an effort to address issues that came up at the 2021 US Nationals in July, specifically relating to the number of days it took to complete an event, a schedule was developed to try and make sure no event took more than two days to finish. While that goal was met, the tightness of the schedule for the first three days, and the conflicts it created for players, resulted in delays that is some cases exceeded 5 hours. A number of matches had to be rescheduled for the following day, causing additional pressure on that day’s schedule. It was also very frustrating to have several open tables during these delays but being unable to put matches on them due to player conflicts.

Probably the biggest failure while trying to deal with these problems was the lack of communication with the players. They needed to be informed about what was going on and what to expect and not be left in a state of limbo. This is unacceptable by any measure, and the entire process is being fully reviewed to determine where and how things broke down so badly.

Again, we sincerely apologize for the delays and other issues that were experienced by so many of our members. Please know we will be working hard to make sure this situation does not happen again and that future tournaments live up to the expectations of everyone.

Thank you,

The 2021 US Open Tournament Committee

2021 US Open Letter to Participants

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