A Tale of Two Nationals

Over the past couple of weeks, I had the honor to compete in two different USTA National Championships. First up was the National Championships for 55+ 9.0 USTA League. This past week I competed in another event known as USTA Intersectionals. I was on the Texas 55+ team. The two events illustrate the divergence between how different constituencies envision the future of senior tennis.

The format for USTA Senior NTRP Leveled League play consists of three lines of doubles. In other words, there are no singles in that format. The rationale for not including singles is that it is hard for older age division teams to find players that are willing to play singles. I think it is a little insulting to seniors to insinuate that they are no longer capable of competing in singles.

USTA League Play is constrained by NTRP ratings. The 9.0 division that I played in requires a combined NTRP ratings total of 9.0 or lower. In other words, a team can play two 4.5 NTRP-rated players or a 4.0 and 5.0 together.

One of my recurring unpopular ideas on this site is that it is absurd to crown NTRP-constrained “National Champions.” The best NTRP players at one level do not need to travel to a National tournament to find stronger competition. Rather they should simply compete at the next higher NTRP division to continue to improve their competitive level. NTRP Leveled National Championships are one of the top incentives that lead players to sandbag.

The Intersectional National Championships are a completely different beast. First, the objective for each USTA Section is to send the very best team. The Texas team that I am currently competing for includes players from all over the Section. It is age-group open tennis that is completely independent of the NTRP system. To me, this annual event crowns the true National Champion for senior tennis.

The Intersectionals format of play reflects an alternate vision of what Senior Tennis should be. At 55+ the team match starts with three lines of singles. That is more lines of singles than any USTA Adult League format. Following the conclusion of the singles lines, two lines of doubles are also played. Players may play both singles and doubles though some teams bring doubles specialists.

Additionally, there is a mechanism in place to ensure that each team plays its singles lines in order of strength. The captains have to submit a ranked order list of all players on their roster for singles. Any three players can play singles, but only in the established rank order. That is not to say that there aren’t minor controversies and challenges with the order of each team, but this is worked out at the captain’s meeting before competition begins.

This year’s Intersectionals in Fort Lauderdale was impacted by Hurricane Nicole which forced some shortened format play. In the absence of that, all play is a full two out of three sets with ad scoring. You won’t normally find any super breakers at Intersectionals.

Based on USTA media coverage from previous years, there is unlikely to be any mention, celebration, or promotion of this year’s Intersectionals on any USTA digital properties or social media. However, you will find pictures of teams and players across the NTRP spectrum from League Nationals plastered prominently on their sites.

I am sure that the rationale for the publicity discrepancy is that NTRP League play is directly relevant to a large number of grassroots players. That is an undeniable fact. However, by not promoting the logical progression to age group open tennis, the USTA is failing to capitalize on an opportunity to let its members know that there is something higher that they might aspire to achieve.

Tennis is best when every player strives to be the very best they can be. NTRP leveled National Championships are fine. However, Intersectionals is where the truly serious tennis players will set their aspirations.