A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of competing at the Texas Tri-Level Section Championship with a bunch of my friends on a team out of Wichita Falls. The Trophy Husband also competed on the men’s team representing that same city. In fact, an incident involving The Trophy Husband’s team is what prompted this current series of posts.
Tri-Level Overview
For anyone who isn’t familiar with that particular format of USTA League competition, “Tri-Level” is derived from Ancient Greek words that mean “Inclement Weather.” It is apparent that Tri-Level was a late addition to the League calendar as it is awkwardly positioned in the winter months that split local league play in one calendar year with Sectionals and Nationals early into the next.
If you like to play tennis in cold and windy weather, Tri-Level is the league for you. If layering rain into the mix is your thing, you’re in luck because it is also a pretty common occurrence at Tri-Level. Snow and ice are not unheard of at that event.
In addition to the Ancient Greek roots, Tri-Level also literally means “Three Levels.” In Texas, the format is three lines of doubles, each at a different NTRP level. “Upper” Tri-Level is conducted at 3.5, 4.0, and 4.5. “Lower” Tri-Level happens at 3.0, 3.5, and 4.0.
Tri-Level Feeds Into a National Invitational
Curiously enough, Tri-Level is not officially called out as a recognized USTA League format in the Regulations. (The link to that document is below for anyone who wants to challenge that observation.) That means that “Nationals” for Tri-Level is an Invitational event rather than an official USTA Championship. The rules for advancement to “Nationals” are called out in The Tri-Level National Invitational Fact Sheet.
The USTA Tri-Level National Invitational is only conducted at what Texas calls the “Upper” level, 3.5, 4.0, and 4.5. The eligibility rules are fairly simple as outlined in the Fact Sheet. Teams must be assembled and registered in 2022. All players must have a valid Computer (C) or Appealed (A) rating. Eligibility to advance to the USTA Tri-Level National Invitational requires each player to play on that same team in at least two matches through the Section championships. In fact, those matches can exclusively occur at the Section level.
The Tri-Level National Invitational Fact Sheet grants each Section latitude in how to select their advancing team. However, the fact that two matches are required by each player through a Section championship implies (but does not actually absolutely require) that one is conducted. Consequently, there is probably significant variation in how Tri-Level is conducted from Section to Section.
Tri-Level in Texas
Texas requires all players to have a Computer or Appealed rating to compete in the Upper division of Tri-Level. That makes logical sense because if self-rates were allowed there would be a real possibility that a team might win the Section championship that was ineligible to play at the National Invitational. It is better to only let teams compete that are eligible to advance.
Since the “Lower” Tri-Level is non-advancing past the Section Championship, self-rated players are permitted at that level. It occurs to me that many Sections might not even conduct the lower-level division at all. If so, I think that’s a shame because I have come to regard both divisions of Tri-Level as important to the tennis ecosystem.
How Tri-Level Benefits the Tennis Ecosystem
Wichita Falls sent four teams to the Tri-Level Section Championship this year. None of those teams first played in a local league to determine advancement. Texas doesn’t require play at the local level for a team to play at the Tri-Level Section Championship. That decision is possible because Tri-Level isn’t an official USTA League format. The standard eligibility requirements in the USTA Regulations don’t apply.
I have previously written about my childhood hometown, Wichita Falls, describing how this once vibrant tennis community has devolved into a “tennis wasteland.” There isn’t enough tennis participation to sustain leagues at the local level. For official USTA League formats, the primary alternative advancement mechanism for teams to reach Sectionals is a “qualifying event” which is essentially a pre-Sectionals tournament where teams compete for one slot.
I have previously written about some of the drawbacks and pitfalls of this alternative advancement mechanism. The post “Tennis (Apparently) Doesn’t Need Rafa” explains why I believe that the qualification events create variance that results in a disproportionately high number of disqualification strikes against players from cities that cannot sustain local league play. Essentially these players are punished because they don’t have an opportunity to play very much.
Additionally, sometimes the qualifying event doesn’t attract enough teams to be conducted at all. Whenever that happens, an individual team has to beg another city to put together some semblance of a team for a short series of matches. Earlier this year I found myself competing at Sectionals for “Abilene” after my Wichita Falls 40+ mixed team packed up and went to that city chasing qualifying match play.
Since Texas allows self-rated players to compete in the “Lower” Tri-Level, Wichita Falls was able to take two rosters of self-rated players to the Section Championships. That means that when next year rolls around those players should now have enough matches in their records to have earned a computer rating. In the past, Tri-Level was excluded from NTRP rating calculations. However, recent data reveals that those matches are now factored in.
As a bonus, the matches at Tri-Level sectionals were against other players with deep playing records. Consequently, those matches generate less variance than when two players with only a couple of NTRP-rated matches under their belts meet head-to-head.
It isn’t a secret that I think there are way too many USTA League formats in general. It clutters the calendar which hurts not only local League play but also tournament tennis. However, if the USTA ever decided to cut back, I would argue that Tri-Level should not be a target. I mention that because it would likely be at risk since the format isn’t even officially recognized in the USTA League Regulations.
Finishing Shots
Tri-Level generates playing opportunities for people in underserved tennis communities that struggle to muster enough players for local league play. That is evident by the number of teams from those small outlying areas that competed in this year’s Section Championship in Texas.
Unfortunately, an incident at the Tri-Level Section Championships prompted this current series of posts this weekend. It occurred (or more accurately, did not occur) in a matchup between two teams from low-participation tennis wastelands. That is the subject of tomorrow’s post.
- 2023 USTA League Regulations, document dated December 22, 2022.
- 2023 USTA League Tom Fey Tri-Level National Invitational Fact Sheet, last viewed February 4, 2023.
- 2023 USTA Texas Section Operating Procedures, Public Google Doc, downloaded 12/18/2022.
