Moral Dilemma

This happened yesterday on a quite full grandstand where the seating is first-come-first-served.

A family of three was watching the match when the mother and their young son left at a changeover (presumably restroom break or to grab some food?).  The father stayed put.  At a subsequent changeover – before they returned – a couple came in, saw the two seats, and wanted to sit there.  When the father told them the seats were taken, the man in the couple said that the seats could not be reserved and they seated themselves there anyway.

What is your view on this situation?

I don't know what it's like in USO, but in Wimbledon people (with ground passes) queue for hours to get in no-show courts, stewards let people in during changeovers, based on how many go out.
So there is no dilemma there - if you leave your seat - it's free to take.

That's the whole point of ground passes as. Opposed to seated, numbered tickets - to give everyone a chance.

noleisthebest wrote:I don't know what it's like in USO, but in Wimbledon people (with ground passes) queue for hours to get in no-show courts, stewards let people in during changeovers, based on how many go out.
So there is no dilemma there - if you leave your seat - it's free to take.

That's the whole point of ground passes as. Opposed to seated, numbered tickets - to give everyone a chance.

It is sort of similar here - and at some smaller courts it literally works out the way you describe - 5 people leave so stewards let 5 people in and all is clear.

But Grandstand is a bit too big for that and stewards usually do not literally count the number of people in and out.

I must say I was not quite sure what I thought of that interaction yesterday (it continued for a while and was at times entertaining as both sides made it very clear they felt they were right).  My thought was that both guys were jerks to some extent.  If I were to come in and someone told me they already had a wife and kid sitting there I would have probably made more effort to find another seat.  On the other hand, if I were the one who was holding the seats and someone claimed the right to sit there, I probably would not challenge it either - sort of on the same grounds you describe.

noleisthebest wrote:queue for hours to get in no-show courts

...except that in the USO the queuing for no-show courts is typically not in hours. Is it really hours at W?

summerblues wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:queue for hours to get in no-show courts

...except that in the USO the queuing for no-show courts is typically not in hours.  Is it really hours at W?

I queued over an hour to see Kyrgios vs Monaco on court 18.
In week two it's even worse.
But usually it's not that bad.

Ok, that sounds worse than the USO. For example I have pretty much never had to queue to get on court 17 (incl matches such as Nishikori vs Mayer last year or Anderson vs Thiem last night) - which is the fourth most important court after Ashe, Armstrong and Grandstand.

The queue on Armstrong can be 1hr+ if a really high profile match is going on.

summerblues wrote:This happened yesterday on a quite full grandstand where the seating is first-come-first-served.

A family of three was watching the match when the mother and their young son left at a changeover (presumably restroom break or to grab some food?).  The father stayed put.  At a subsequent changeover – before they returned – a couple came in, saw the two seats, and wanted to sit there.  When the father told them the seats were taken, the man in the couple said that the seats could not be reserved and they seated themselves there anyway.

What is your view on this situation?

Difficult. I think you go you lose your seats. When I watched the "longest match in history" (Isner/Mahut) I was craving for a drink. It was the 2nd day and start of the 5th, players were at 17/18 and we inside did not realise as much of the buzz going on outside though we coudl see the commentators queuing in to see it as well (McEnroe, Wilander, etc..). I finally gave up and went outside....to realise there were 100s of people queuing trying to get it. No chance I would have claimed my right to the seat, even if I was sitting next to my wife. You watch as long as you can and then...too bad. We are 7 billion on earth today. I wish it was different but that's how it is.