An engineer overthinks tennis in a daily journal.
The USTA Adult Tournament structure outlines a 7 tier system for conducting tournaments. USTA “National Championships” are competed at Level 1. Today we are exploring what the tournament trophies for Level 1 events reveal about the nature of Adult competitive tennis.
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I had expected to start off this weekend talking about the distribution of USTA National NTRP Level 5 tournaments. In the interim, I discovered that I was completely misreading something in the tournament regulations that is infinitely more impactful. Today we are examining the number of Level 4 events that each section can sanction and taking a look at how NTRP tournaments at that level were scheduled for 2021. Depending on how you look at it, there is either an insane error or a loophole within the USTA Adult and Family Tournament Sanctioning Regulations.
Yesterday I wrote about disparities in how each USTA Sectional awards sanctions Level 5 tennis tournaments under the new framework unveiled by the USTA in 2021. Some sections have a lot of Level 5 tournaments and the differences cannot be chalked up to higher levels of participation. In fact, Texas has one of the highest tournament participation levels yet relatively few Level 5 tournaments.
One of the benefits of the new USTA National Tennis Tournament framework unveiled for 2021 is that the majority of local tournaments are now open to USTA members regardless of residency. Additionally, those events award ranking points toward the player’s USTA National ranking that impacts tournament seeding and selection into exclusive events. After the first full year of competitive play under the new system, disparities in how each USTA Section is awarding sanctions for tournaments in accordance with the new framework has become apparent.
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Heading into New Year’s Eve last week, I shared twelve “Gifts” that you can give to yourself to jumpstart your tennis life. Each item on that list is essentially a tennis related life hack shamelessly adapted from a cybersecurity career development webinar that I gave in 2019. I will be revisiting one of those items in more depth on the first Friday of each month this year. In January, I am focusing on the “Gift” of Time.
There has been a lot of discussion over the discrepancies and growing pains associated with the USTA National Tournament unified framework and rankings system that was unveiled in 2021. Per USTA Regulations, each player is responsible for regular review of their own player records. Additionally, each player is responsible for notifying the “USTA Adult Tennis Department” if there are any errors or inaccuracies in their player records.
New Year’s Day is when I traditionally sit down and map out my tournament plans for the year. My first stop is always the USTA schedule for the “National” Level tournaments. Since these tournaments can last up to a week, it is really important to get that time blocked off on my calendar. It is also a good jumping off point for thinking about how scheduling and publicizing tournaments has evolved in the internet era.
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The Fiend at Court household celebrates New Year’s Eve in a somewhat unorthodox fashion. I am not a big fan of large parties, and staying up late. As an engineer who regularly deals with risk management on a professional basis, I cannot suppress the observation that New Year’s Eve is a terrible night to be out on the roads. All the amateur drunks are out at approximately the same time. What could go wrong? Hence we celebrate each new year quietly… and much earlier in the evening.
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Today I am sharing four final tennis life hacks that were shamelessly lifted and adapted from a cybersecurity talk I gave in 2020. These are things that can significantly improve your tennis life.
Today I am sharing four more tennis life hacks that were shamelessly lifted and adapted from a cybersecurity talk I gave in 2020. These are things that can significantly improve your tennis life.
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