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Putting It All Together: My Daily Plantar Fasciitis Prevention Routine Tennis Beyond the Headlines: March 31, 2025 A Mother’s Day and Father’s Day Gift Idea A Great Gift for Grads… and Tennis Players Basket Case: The Gift of Tennis for Easter Improve Your Tennis IQ: The off-court workout for on-court skills A Ratings Expiration Edge Case

More Points for Everyone!

On By Teresa Merklin

The post “Ranking Points and Divisional Fragmentation” last Saturday, outlined how NTRP age divisions divides otherwise minimally viable draws completely out of existence. That post observed that ranking point fragmentation is yet another depressive factor in Adult tournament participation. I previously proposed that elimination of the NTRP age divisions could make an immediate positive difference. In the interim, I realized that there is another obvious “easy” way to mitigate the problem. The USTA should award ranking points in both the division entered as well as the division that was actually played for Adult and Family tournaments.

Ranking Points and Divisional Fragmentation

On By Teresa Merklin

Back in 2018, the USTA decided that it would be a good idea to create a new age-based NTRP division for tournament play. That new division was for 50+ players. Bifurcating by age did not increase participation in NTRP leveled tournaments, at least not in Texas per my analysis. Perhaps the USTA has more complete data at the national level that tells a different story. In any case, it was later decided that what tournament tennis really needed was three age based divisions. Now tournaments can offer 18+, 40+, and 55+ NTRP divisions.

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Rankings Fragmentation and the Calendar

On By Teresa Merklin

The USTA Adult and Family Tournaments, Ranking, and Sanctioning Regulations document specifies use of a player’s “best” 6 tournament performances for rankings calculations. I recently observed that competing in 6 tournaments to maximize ranking point opportunities requires players to dedicate approximately 12% of their yearly available weekend time to tournament play. As it turns out, that is actually only the tip of the iceberg.

Where Do I Sign Up?

On By Teresa Merklin

On the first Friday of each month this year, this site is publishing a deep dive on one of the 12 “Gifts” you can treat yourself with to improve your tennis life. The focus this month enumerates the reasons why tennis players and fans should engage with the organizations that promote our great sport. Advocacy is essential for the future health of the tennis ecosystem. We are stronger together than we are individually.

Errata and Running the Numbers

On By Teresa Merklin

There is a cap to the number of tournaments that count toward a player’s USTA ranking under the current cumulative tournament performance ranking system. The primary purpose of this post is to correct a misstatement I made about that on this site a couple of weeks ago. Additionally, it is a perfect opportunity to preview my emerging thinking on how to structure tennis tournaments to build the robust participation needed for a healthy competitive ecosystem.

What, me worry? (NTRP and the World Tennis Number)

On By Teresa Merklin

The USTA has been busy filling my inbox with announcements heralding the imminent deployment of the World Tennis Number. The messages are infused with reassurances directing players to not “worry” that the NTRP system might go away. I have been trying to find someone who is actually concerned about that happening. If I could find such a person, I could try to pinpoint the root causes of the fear. So far I have failed in that endeavor.

Yes I Am! (Going to League Nationals)

On By Teresa Merklin

My 55+ 9.0 NTRP USTA League Team qualified for the National Championships last weekend. In related news, I have a history of asserting that elimination of NTRP “National Championships” would eliminate the majority of unsportsmanlike behavior that plagues the USTA League system. Additionally, I have also railed at the absurdity of conducting NTRP competition with age based restrictions. Will I make the trip with my team? Absolutely.

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USTA Scheduling Guidelines

On By Teresa Merklin

The USTA Friend at Court contains a table of guidelines for the maximum number of daily matches for a player within a division in a USTA tennis tournament. Per the tennis triple constraint model that was the subject of yesterday’s post, the various scoring methods in that table are the qualitative aspects of match play that constrains the calendar time and schedule for the tournament.

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Tournament Triple Constraint Model

On By Teresa Merklin

A popular joke about project management goes like this: “All projects can be done well, fast, and cheap. Pick two.” That joke is based on the triple constraint theory of project management. It is elegantly conceptualized as a triangle that represents the trade-offs between scope, cost, and time. The idea is that changes to any of those vertices forces adjustment in one or both of the other two. I recently had the revelation that I had been unconsciously using the triple constraint model as I have been ruminating on tournament scheduling, draw formats, and ranking systems.

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