we celebrate tennis innovators of all epochs. Jimmy van Alen II, a famous resident of Newport City is known by many as the founder of the Tennis Hall of Fame, located in his beloved Newport. He is also the inventor of shortening the length of matches, first creating the concept of “Sudden Death” to 31 points which later became the modern “Tie-Break” we use today.Van Alen II, aristocrat and a man of distinguished class, witnessed a professional tournament at the Newport Casino Club in 1954, where the idea of founding the Tennis Hall of Fame came to him, & while watching, he noticed the incredible length of matches which was exhausting for players and spectators, and therefore generated an option to shorten sets and finish matches more quickly.He then created the VASSS, (Van Alen Streamlined Scoring System), a revolutionary scoring system. After several adjustments derived from his concept, in 1970 it was played and applied for the first time in the US Open that year. The rest is history.We on TBD celebrate Jimmy van Alen II for his innovation to tennis.
CELEBRATING THE INNOVATORS – JIMMY VAN ALEN IIAt TBD
