A few words about the 4 1/2 form of the singles game. It is played on the same 36 meter short court as the traditional form of the singles game, with two crucial differences.
Serves have to land between the 3 and 5 line instead of the 4 and 7 line.
Balls in play during rallies must land inside a line that is set up half way between the 4 and 5 line (hence the name 4 1/2). This is approximately 40 to 50 feet from the front wall. What these two rules do is cut the length of the court drastically. The kind of power shots that Irribarria used so effectively in the Buruz Buruko Txapelketa (see below) are out of bounds in this form. 4 1/2 emphasizes speed and shot making. It could be argued that it is more of a finesse game than the traditional singles game. A game that should fit in nicely with the skills demonstrated by Oliazola II in the recently completed Campeonato de Parejas (Doubles) championship covered in the March and April Weekly reports. San Fermin is a seeded tournament designed to pit an Asegarce player against an ASPE player in the final,
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