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    A Player's Guide to USTA League Tennis
    A Player's Guide to USTA League Tennis
    A Player's Guide to USTA League Tennis
    Ebook159 pages2 hours

    A Player's Guide to USTA League Tennis

    By Tony Serksnis

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    About this ebook

    Drawn from more than two decades of experience, this engaging tutorial explains the ins and outs of being on a league tennis team. A blueprint for managing and competing in the program, the study provides strategies, concepts, and tips on everything from pre-match preparations and maintaining team chemistry to strategies for overall improvement. Offering a complete plan of attack for achieving established goals, this is a must-have for league tennis players competing at any level.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNew Chapter Press
    Release dateApr 1, 2011
    ISBN9780942257885
    A Player's Guide to USTA League Tennis

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      Book preview

      A Player's Guide to USTA League Tennis - Tony Serksnis

      Calif.

      • Chapter One •

      HOW TO GET FROM

      HERE TO THERE

      Volunteering to be a captain of a USTA League Tennis team is an adventure. It has to be personally satisfying because there is no monetary reward and, like most other human endeavors, has its share of hard work, long hours and some disappointment. To have a successful team (in terms of a winning season), it follows just about any life rules for success:

      Deciding the Goal

      Putting a plan in-place to meet that Goal

      Carrying-out on that Plan

      Learning from the Overall Process

      Maximize Future Success

      Tennis, by itself, is a great source of fun. It is a competitive sport in that, whether playing singles or doubles, one is trying to get better and one is trying to win against other individuals. If one plays tennis in a league environment, this adds to the dimensions in that not only are you playing as an individual, but now you are also a component of the final outcome for a team. You are not only trying to improve your own game, but you are now pulling for all members on your team to succeed. During a team match, if one wins an individual match, while your teammates falter, clearly that match hasn’t been 100 percent satisfying. Conversely, losing your own singular match, while having the overall team win the team match, has certainly salvaged some amount of pride.

      PLAYER RATINGS

      USTA League Tennis has a relatively fair system of rating players via the National Tennis Ranking Program (NTRP), the official system for determining the levels of competition for USTA leagues. The USTA states that the primary goal of the program is to help all tennis players enjoy the game by providing a method of classifying skill levels for more compatible matches, group lessons, league play, tournaments and other programs. In USTA League Tennis, ratings range from 2.5 (beginner) to 5.0 (advanced). When you have a rating at a particular level, you will generally only play other players at that level. Thus, if your own personal ranking is at the 4.0 level, you will play on a 4.0 team, against players who are all ranked 4.0.

      All of the levels have quantitative measures for helping someone who isn’t ranked determine what level is appropriate to them. For example, a 4.0 player is defined by the USTA as: You have dependable strokes, including directional control and depth on both forehand and backhand sides on moderate-paced shots. You can use lobs, overheads, approach shots and volleys with some success and occasionally force errors when serving. Rallies may be lost due to impatience. Teamwork in doubles is evident.

      So, a person who has an unknown rating (as yet, not playing in a USTA League), will guess at their USTA rating based on the guidelines and perhaps calibrating against players that have established ratings. This type of player actually is then listed on a USTA roster as a player with a rating of 4.0s. This s (self-rated) means this is the rating declared by a new league player, or a player returning to league play whose old rating has expired. Ratings lowered for medical reasons are also coded as s. Both are subject to self-rate grievance challenges. That is, if an opposing team captain feels that this player isn’t properly rated, that captain may file a grievance with the USTA league. These grievances may result in players, or entire teams, getting the results of their matches reversed.

      After a player has competed in either tournaments or league play, they will get a year-end computer rating, and then will be listed with a rating of 4.0c, where the c means that the player has achieved a computer rating. The computer rating is a dynamic rating that changes after match scores are reported back to the USTA. The USTA has an algorithm that they use for weighing each match based on several factors that results in each player having a rating (within the system) to the nearest hundredth of a point. So, a player with a 4.0 rating actually has a rating that can be 4.38 (by the USTA computer) that cannot be seen by captains or players. This particular player is close to having their rating changed to a 4.5 by year-end ratings.

      There are a couple of typical scenarios that happen with players, and how they approach their ratings:

      • A normal player will be working to improve their own personal game. This usually results (with a measure of success) in the player going up in level until they find a level where they seem to level-out. They may start out as a 3.0, achieve a couple of seasons that are 8 wins / 2 losses, to which they’ll improve to a 3.5 ranking. They may have continued success at 3.5, and they’ll go on to achieve a 4.0 ranking. This is where they may settle-in, that is, they’ll compile win/loss records that are fairly even and remain at 4.0 for quite a while. Of course, they may continue to go up, or even down in rating.

      • Another way for a player to have their ranking improve is to be with a team that has a large measure of success. That is, if a team wins their local league, Districts, Sectionals, and goes to Nationals, everyone on that team will get their levels raised if they stay together as a team. If the team chooses to break up (with three players maximum from the present team) they can keep their present ranking. The USTA attempts to have ratings be as consistent as possible across the entire nation. A 4.0 player in the Northern California Section should have the same general ability as a 4.0 player in any other USTA Section.

      • Other players approach their rating in another way. This player is not as much interested in getting a higher personal rating, but rather they are more content at winning matches that probably result in team match wins. The extreme of this philosophy would be where a player actually loses a match on-purpose to maintain a lower rating. Entire teams can be constructed of players who are approaching their ratings this way. At some point, this team either advances beyond the league championship, and thus gets a higher rating, or a grievance may be launched in exceptionally egregious cases.

      By in-large, I believe that the ranking system is about as fair as it can be. The USTA is always interested in making it as consistent as it can be, and is open to reviewing particular cases in order to achieve fairness.

      The USTA provides specific rules for appealing your rating. USTA ratings happen twice a year, once at year end, and once right before the senior season begins (late July). Two general rules apply:

      • An appeal is automatically granted for any player younger than 60 whose rating falls within 0.05 point above or below NTRP level

      • An appeal is automatically granted for any player 60 years of age or older whose rating falls within 0.10 point above or below NTRP level An example of the above is: A 40-year-old player with a 3.0 rating appeals to have his rating lowered to 2.5. Their appeal will be granted if the computer rating to the hundredth is 2.55 or below.

      NTRP Computer Ratings are good for three years (two years for those age 60 or older during the league year). An individual must play at their published rating or higher. Players do not see their ratings to the hundredth, only to the whole or half number: 3.0, 3.5, 4.0 etc. These are USTA national regulations. It is thought that if players could see their ratings to the hundredth, that they would not play to their skill level to manipulate their NTRP level of play.

      The USTA provides for various levels of play: 2.5 / 3.0 / 3.5 / 4.0 / 4.5 / 5.0 / 5.5 / Open. At any one particular level, there is theoretically very little disparity. In theory, any 4.0 player can beat another 4.0 player on any given day. I would claim that this is generally true. Obviously, all competitive 4.0 players strive to improve to the next level (4.5 level). So, a 4.0 player is generally playing within a 3.51 to 4.00 range. Factors that might make a 4.0 player play at a higher level (on any given day) would be:

      a. Practice or lessons

      b. Improved equipment

      c. Improved mental outlook

      d. Matching up well with opponent’s style of tennis

      e. Improved physical fitness

      It’s also possible that the player has been generally trending upwards. That is, they have had a measure of success over some years. They may have started at a 4.0 level five years ago. The record of the individual might have looked like this:

      YEAR WIN/LOSS RECORD

      2005 - 1-4

      2006 - 3-5

      2007 - 4-5

      2008 - 6-3

      2009 - 7-2

      This particular player, while not playing well enough to get to the 4.5 level, certainly is going to be a tougher player in 2010, amongst the other 4.0 players (if this player maintains or keeps getting better). Also, the USTA doesn’t determine moving someone up in rating (or down) strictly by the number of wins one achieves. It has a more sophisticated algorithm that considers also how strong your opponent is, match / set scrores and tournament play.

      Playing a team sport, any team sport, is multidimensional in that, you are looking to achieve personal goals, while at the same time achieve team goals. Playing USTA League Tennis is a great example of achieving both personal and team goals. I actually would claim that playing league tennis allows one to lose a personal match and still get a large measure of satisfaction. Here’s an example of how that might happen.

      The following is a listing for a player’s (Michael) best outcome for a league match, listed high-to-low:

      • Michael wins his individual match, while his team wins 3-2. This is perhaps a selfish outcome in that Michael’s win actually made very much of a difference in the overall team outcome.

      • Michael wins his individual match, team sweeps 5-0. Two very good things occur, a personal win and a team sweep.

      • Michael wins his individual match, team wins 4-1. Again, a good personal win, and the team does quite well.

      • Michael loses his individual match, but team wins 4-1. Michael was the only individual match loss, team still does very well.

      • Michael loses his individual match, but the team wins 3-2. This still can be interpreted by Michael as a positive match outcome.

      • Michael loses his individual match, and the team loses 1-4. This is the first entirely negative match outcome.

      • Michael loses his individual match, and the team loses 0-5. Certainly, this is a disaster for both Michael and the

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