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Action Required: The Deadline for Correcting USTA National Ranking Errors is January 15

On By Teresa Merklin

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.

Planning Tournament Participation in 2022

On By Teresa Merklin

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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Putting a Tennis Spin on a New Year’s Eve Tradition

On By Teresa Merklin

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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12 “Gifts” To Improve Your Tennis Life (Part 1)

On By Teresa Merklin

In December of 2020 I gave a Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS) webinar on 12 “Gifts” to jumpstart a career in cybersecurity. Each item in that list is a practice or habit that I regard as a career success factor. I was recently reviewing my own performance against those items over the past year had the sudden realization that the same core concepts would be equally effective if framed out in terms of tennis. This weekend I am launching into a whirlwind tour of those twelve items focusing on how each of those can advance and improve your tennis life.

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Adult and Junior Tournaments: Distant Cousins in the USTA Family Tree

On By Teresa Merklin

USTA is a massive non-profit organization with a certain number of full time paid staff. However, most of the the work is largely performed by a cadre of volunteers grouped into numerous committees. Yesterday I wrote about differences between the Adult and Junior tennis tournament Regulations and Ranking procedures. The origins for that divergence can be traced directly to the USTA organization structure for the committees that own those documents.

Surprising? Differences in a “Unified” System

On By Teresa Merklin

There are striking differences between USTA Adult and Junior tournament regulations. The same can be said about the respective ranking systems. Over the past couple of months, I have written a lot about errors and inconsistencies in the USTA Adult regulations and ranking system. In the background, I frequently reference the equivalent documentation that governs Junior competition for additional insight and perspective. The fact that the Adult and Junior documents are vastly different is immediately apparent even on casual review. The fundamental question is this: Should those differences exist?

Updating USTA Regulations, Schoolhouse Rock Style

On By Teresa Merklin

Last Sunday I described a request I made to the USTA Adult Competition Committee to update the glossary in the USTA Adult and Family Tournament, Ranking, and Sanctioning Regulations. Today I want to step through the process for how that actually occurs. To keep this topic from being as boring as it… Well, actually is… I am going to unapologetically leverage the linguistic style of the Schoolhouse Rock classic, “I’m just a Bill.”