Three different events comprise the NCAA Championships: team, singles and doubles draws.

This year The Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville, Fla., plays host to the final 10 days of the event, which begins with the Round of 16 portion of the team championship - May 15-18 - and concludes with the simultaneous action of singles and doubles play - May 19-24. The University of Florida serves at the host institution.

The top 64 teams in the nation, as determined by the NCAA Selection Committee, begin competition at 16 regional sites on May 9, 2003. The 16 winners of each regional will travel to Gainesville for the remainder of the tournament to compete for the NCAA title.

The singles field features the top 64 players, while the doubles draw contains the top 32 tandems, also determined and seeded by the NCAA Selection Committee.

Notes:

• This is the fifth time the University of Florida has played host to the NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championships. UF also welcomed the event in 1989, 1990, 1993 and 1999.
• The Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex will serve as the primary facility for the final 10 days of the event. *ESPN2 will televise the NCAA Team Championship final dual match. It will air on Sunday, May 25 beginning at 2 p.m. ET.
• The NCAA Tennis Championship expanded to a 64-team field in 1999.
• The 2004 NCAA Tennis Championships will be hosted by the University of Georgia. Action at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex takes place from May 20-29, 2004. First and Second Round matches will be played on 16 campus sites from May 14-16, 2004.

Following College Tennis

The Fall Season
The first half of the college tennis season begins in mid-September and continues through early November. Primarily individual events and tournaments are scheduled during this time frame, as student-athletes represent their university in selected singles and doubles contests.

Two of the three Grand Slam events also take place in the fall: the Riviera All-American (Pacific Palisades, Calif.) and the Omni Hotels National Indoor Championships (Dallas, Texas).

The Spring Season
While a handful of individual tournaments are still contested, the focus of the second half of the college tennis season, which begins in January, turns to dual match play.

A dual match is an event between two schools that features three doubles matches and six singles matches. The coaches from each school submits a lineup with its top players squaring off against each other at the No. 1 position, its next best player at the No. 2 position and so on through the No. 6 position. The same method applies for doubles.

Each school earns one team point by winning at least two of the three doubles matches and earns an additional point for every victory in singles. The winning school of the dual match captures the best of SEVEN team points. A final score might read: UF def. UX 4-3.

To make dual matches more "fan friendly," doubles matches are scored as a pro set. The winner of a pro set is the first pair to claim eight games, while leading by two games. A tiebreaker is implemented if the games are even at 8-all. The only time the pro set scoring is not utilized is during the three doubles Grand Slam events.

Singles matches always implement the traditional scoring method, with the winner claiming two of three sets for a victory. In a dual match, if the team victor already has been determined and an agreement was established between the both coaches, a singles match entering a third set might use a 'super-tie-breaker' in place of a third set to establish the individual winner. The two acceptable methods of displaying that result: 1-6, 6-2, (10-8), or 1-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-8).

During mid-February, the National Team Indoor Championships are held in Madison, Wis. Sixteen (16) of the nation's best teams compete in dual matches for the indoor title. Duke defeated Florida 4-3 to win this year's crown.

The NCAA Championships (hard surface) is the final collegiate event contested each year.

Collegiate Grand Slam Events
The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) sanctions the three legs of the collegiate singles and doubles Grand Slam events as well as the ITA National Team Indoor Championships and the NCAA Team Championships. The tournament legs in order contested: Riviera All-American; Omni Hotels National Indoor; and NCAA Championships. From 1986-2001 there were four national events, but the ITA National Clay Court Championships is no longer played.

National Rankings
In Division I, the ITA National Rankings are determined by a computerized system, using the ITA's average points-per-match formula. They are released 17 times during the season (pre-season, fall, and 14 times on a weekly basis in the spring and year-end). The first team ranking is revealed in January. The Division I top 75 teams, top 100 singles players and top 50 doubles teams receive an ITA ranking. The ITA Rankings are also used in selection of all ITA Grand Slam Championships as well as the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships.

Division I Regional rankings are released twice a year (fall and year-end). The top 15 teams, top 30 singles players and top 15 doubles teams are ranked for men and women in each of the eight ITA regions.