"Now, if you had to win one of the next two points, there is a heck of a chance you are going to break the guy. If you are playing against Sampras and he is serving at 15-40, there is still a 60 per cent chance he is going to hold serve. A no-ad scoring system and that drops considerably, to maybe a 23 per cent chance he is going to hold serve."While understanding Agassi's preoccupation with breaking Pete Sampras' serve, your correspondent still regards the "no-ad" system as a potential passion killer.For example, we would have been denied the 20-minute game between Steffi Graf and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario which transformed the 1995 Wimbledon women's singles final into one of the classics.The marathon game, in which Sanchez Vicario was serving at one set all and 5-5, comprised 32 points, including 13 deuces, six break points and eight game points. "The no-ad rule was tried in college tennis in the States, and it made the tennis very mundane."Although Andre Agassi in his younger days once described an ITF president as a "bozo", the American seems inclined to side with the establishment on some of the current issues. When the score reaches deuce, mental doors tend to open or close. One of the players, for example, might have fought back from 0-40. Will there be a sudden shift in confidence?"If you get into a long deuce game you have a situation where you can wear your opponent down," observes John Newcombe, the Australian former Wimbledon champion and world No 1.

The ITF, in common with the Grand Slam championships and the men's and women's professional tours, are acutely aware that they are in competition with other sports for television time. One benefit, according to the ITF, would be to "make matches shorter and therefore more `fan friendly' and easier to schedule for television".Ah, yes, television. As with football's "golden goal", the "no-ad" expedient appears to be another example of the McDonald's syndrome (for fast food read fast sport, easily packaged, readily consumed).Tennis matches, being of indeterminate length, present particular problems for the media. Care must be taken, however, not to erode the fabric.An additional benefit of the "no-ad" system, the ITF contends, would be to "inject" another element of excitement into the game by having the potential for providing a climax in any game during the match, in a comparable way to that of the tie-break.Sacrificed in the process would be an integral part of the psychological and physical duelling which makes tennis so fascinating. So, for the moment, we shall not see the ball trip over the net-cord and be declared an ace.What we shall see, at least at a number of the smaller events during the next two years, is an experimental "no-ad" system, allowing games to be won on the first point after deuce. SINCE THE last ball was struck at Wimbledon, a period of comparative tranquillity has been interrupted by some blarney from Killarney. The International Tennis Federation, at its annual meeting in Ireland, indicated that it was prepared to tinker with the game in order to satisfy the demands of television.

While that hardly distinguishes the ITF from other custodians of sports, there are occasions when aspects fundamental to the nature of a contest need to be protected. In this instance, preservation orders ought to be slapped on the "advantage" point and the service let. The service let (where a serve is retaken if the ball touches the net before landing good) is not in imminent danger. An ITF proposal for its abolition was withdrawn "pending further research, analysis and consultation over the next 12 months". The vote for the position vacated by Matthew McCloy took place yesterday.With the BHB having voiced concern of the lack of a jump racing interest in the boardroom, Pratt's appointment was perhaps predictable.West Country trainer Paul Nicholls holds a charity open day on Sunday, 30 August at Manor Farm Stables, Ditcheat, near Shepton Mallet Gates open at 11.30 am and admission is pounds 4.. Derek Shaw, trainer of Cliburnel News, expressed bemusement at the win. Cliburnel News had flopped at Doncaster, but under a patient tide from Richard Mullen yesterday she reeled in the front-running favourite Eternity inside the final furlong to prevail by two lengths at 10-1. "I really haven't got a clue why she ran so badly last time," Shaw said.