The End of Anonymous Comments; First Grade A of 2008 in the Books

Only a tiny percentage of visitors to this site comment, so my decision to quit accepting anonymous posts in 2008 will affect only a few of you. For nearly three years now I've resisted the registration of commenters, and I have decided not to require that, but I will no longer approve any comments that do not include at least a nickname. Blogger recently changed the comment page to add the "nickname" box and it is easy to use. Simply adopt a unique name for your posts (the url box is optional) and leave a comment; it will not be tracked or identified, it will merely make the ensuing discussion easier to follow. I hope this doesn't deter anyone from speaking his or her mind, but I believe that it is appropriate to ask for at least this simple form of identification for those who would like to contribute. Those of you who have left anonymous comments the past weeks and have not seen them posted should try again with a nickname. As I've said many times before, the chances that your comment will be published are much greater if you adopt a nickname, although the younger the player discussed, the less likely I am to publish critical comments about them.

I will continue to publish reminders of this new policy in the next few weeks.

The ball hasn't dropped in Time Square, but the first major ITF tournament of 2008 is already over. Cesar Ramirez of Mexico and Tanya Raykova of Bulgaria are the singles champions of the Grade A Casablanca Cup near Mexico City.

Krista Damico and Nadja Gilchrist of the U.S. won the girls doubles title, while Evan King and Ray Sarmiento reached the finals of the boys doubles competition. The ITF junior website has the Casablanca story here, and also has published the first rankings of 2008. In what I'm hoping is an aberration, but suspect is an unannounced format change for 2008, the doubles matches in Mexico that split sets were decided by a match tiebreaker (and I suspect were no-ad, although since I wasn't there, I can't be sure). It seems ironic that the ITF led the charge to a combined ranking for juniors to ensure participation in doubles, but is now devaluing it by dropping the traditional scoring. I've sent an email to the ITF requesting clarification of whether this is optional by tournament or an ITF decision that will affect all events in 2008.

Happy New Year everyone!