The notion that the duration of a tennis match is guaranteed to be shorter by the introduction of the "no advantage" experimental rule could be proved wrong, as has happened in the US, when the new rules are in operation during the Irish Open indoor championships, sponsored by Pamela Scott at Riverview from December 27th to January 3rd.

When the rule was tried out in college tennis in the US some years ago, matches tended to be longer even though many games were shorter. Ireland's number one Owen Casey explains: "With the `no ad' rule, the underdog, for example, stands a better chance of winning more games, thus increasing the length of a match. In theory it may make the game shorter but what actually happens is the underdog gets more games than he or she should and that increases the length of the match. That's the way it worked out in the States and they switched back to regular scoring."

Both men's and women's singles at Riverview have attracted record entries. Scott Barron is seeded at two to Casey with John Doran, home from Harvard, at number three. Gina Niland is the women's top seed with Claire Curran, Yvonne Doyle and Karen Nugent in the strong challenging positions.