Gold Balls and Specialized Awards: USTA Level 1 National Championships

Fiend at Court Unplugged

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.

There is one important and influential part of the Adult tennis community that was neglected when the 7 tier framework was developed. The players and organizations that comprise the Adult Senior community at the national level did not have much of a voice when the new tournament framework was conceived and negotiated. That is unfortunate because those are the people that best understand competitive play at the highest level.

The USTA summary page that is intended to serve as an overview of the framework Levels exclusively focuses on the characteristics of the tournaments in terms of duration and playing format. That is not the primary purpose of the system. The 7 tier framework is first and foremost a competitive pathway. It was historically not intended to capture the format of the tournament, but rather level of competitive play.

For a demonstration of how the competitive pathway should work, we have the Junior USTA version of the “same” system. Ironically, when the new Adult framework was unveiled, the fact that it would be “just like” the Junior system was repeatedly claimed. A deeper examination reveals that the Junior Tournament Regulations are nothing at all like the corresponding Adult versions of those documents. It is not an exaggeration to say that the systems lose all similarity past the point of nomenclature. They have a common façade, but what lies behind are separate worlds.

In many ways, Senior Adult tennis is more analogous to Junior competitive tennis than Adult NTRP tennis. Both are “Open” play restricted only by age. A player cannot control their age. On the other hand, players have significant influence over their NTRP level. Despite what the USTA wants to project, people can and do manipulate their NTRP ratings.

A significant complicating factor for Adult Tennis and the new framework is the addition of the NTRP National Championships, which seems to be organizationally viewed as a big selling point. I am sure that I will continue to revisit that assertion in the future. What is important for this discussion is that it is designated as a Level 1 tournament. That causes problems. Slotting it at any other Level also causes problems. The NTRP National Championships is an outlier in the context of a competitive pathway system.

One area where the influence of the Adult Senior tournament community is apparent, is in the awards for Level 1 tournaments. The USTA Adult Tournaments Ranked Events infographic contains a column labeled “Level 1 — Gold Ball” that describes the highest tier of tournaments. That is misleading The USTA Adult and Family Tournament Sanctioning Regulations even contains a definition of Gold Ball Events in the Glossary.

Gold Ball Event. This refers to the highest level of national competition at which USTA Gold, Silver, and Bronze Balls are awarded.

USTA Adult and Family Tournament Sanctioning Regulations, Glossary

When the NTRP National Championships were first unveiled, there was some speculation that it would also be categorized as a “Gold Ball” event. In fact, when that tournament was slotted in at Level 1, some made that implicit assumption. However, it is not a Gold Ball event as explicitly stated in the Regulations.

Gold, Silver, and Bronze Balls. Gold balls will be awarded to the winners, silver balls to the runners-up, and bronze balls to the third place playoff winners of USTA Level 1 Adult and Family National Championships, except those tournaments held in the Adult NTRP Divisions.

USTA Adult and Family Tournament Sanctioning Regulations, VI.A

There was apparently a lot of discussion and debate on this because it immediately warranted a comment.

Regulation VI.A. Comment: Top finishers in the USTA Level 1 NTRP National Championships will receive a customized award.

In essence, the NTRP National Championships do not award gold balls because they are not conducted at the highest level of national competition. That can only necessarily occur in “Open” play.

Just in case anyone is wondering what that customized award looks like, here is the one that graces the mantle in the Fiend at Court household.

Tomorrow I plan on exploring the implicit definitions of the 7 Levels of Play in the USTA Adult Framework and how the ecosystem relies on a pyramid/triangle/funnel structure for viability. The wrong number of tournaments at each level breaks the system. We’re already at that point.

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1. Adult Tournament Structure: Top Things to Know, USTA web page, undated, viewed 1/14/2022.
2. USTA Adult and Family Tournament, Ranking & Sanctioning Regulations, Adopted May 14, 2020 and Amended December 2020.
3. 2021 USTA Adult Tournaments Ranked Events, USTA Informational Document, undated, viewed 1/14/2022.