This is a comprehensive summary of my advice to prospective players for the 2024 NTRP National Championships as the registration deadline approaches. This capstone summarizes what players should do before and after the entry and selection for this year’s tournament. It also describes how to unlock an “expert level” of knowledge about this event.
Things To Do Before the Entry Deadline
- Register for the tournament before the entry deadline. If you do not enter, you will not be selected. Unlike previous years, players selected due to their standing on the National Standings List (NSL) will not be notified of their selection by their Section coordinators before the entry deadline. Do not wait for an invitation that will never come and forfeit your opportunity to play. The USTA’s “About” page contains a link to the registration pages for all the events.
- Register if you want to play in the event and appear at any position on the NSL. Unlike previous years, once the Sections have exhausted their Automatic Qualification (AQ) quotas, the remaining available spots will be awarded to registered players in rank order off the NSL. In some divisions, that will likely go pretty far down on the rankings list for the people who enter. You never know.
- (Doubles) Complete partner selection and confirmation before the entry deadline. The selection policies on the USTA’s “About” page for the event suggest that players without finalized partners might not be selected. Don’t take that unnecessary risk.
- Continue to accumulate rankings points. Ranking points earned before the Wednesday prior to the entry deadline will improve your standing on the NSL and, consequently, your chances for selection. If you are not currently on the NSL, playing a single tournament in that window will activate your eligibility.
- Investigate your Section’s alternative AQ criteria. If your Section does not have any (or many) players on the NSL, reach out to your Sectional Coordinator to see if you qualify for the alternate criteria that should have been filed with the USTA. Take this opportunity to encourage your Section to schedule some tournaments next year. Alternatively, consider traveling to play in a tournament before the entry deadline, as rankings and/or participation points earned might lock down your Section’s AQ spot.
- Consider booking your travel now. Unless you like sitting in the center seat when flying and relish finding a place to stay after the best lodging options are picked over, consider booking your travel to the event in advance of selection. One strategy to mitigate the risk of not being selected is to select refundable options. An alternate approach is to go anyway as a mini-vacation. Some of the venues are quite nice in the Spring.
Things To Do After the Entry Deadline
- Actively monitor the tournament selection list. It isn’t clear if the tournament organizers will publish one single selection list or do that task in two phases, first by the AQ players and then by filling out the division with players from the NSL list. Monitor this process closely if you expect to be selected or are on the bubble. If errors are made, the earlier you appeal to the tournament organizers and your Section coordinators, the better the chances of a positive resolution.
- Make/Adjust/Cancel your travel arrangements. If you didn’t roll the dice and book your travel in advance, there isn’t much time remaining to do it once selections are confirmed. Do not delay. Alternatively, maybe it’s time to cancel those arrangements or adjust to a fun spring weekend away from everything, including tennis.
Things To Do To Unlock NTRP National Championships “Expert Level”
- Read previous posts relevant to the 2024 NTRP National Championships
- Rating Changes at NTRP Nationals. A summary of the initial announcement of the new selection policies posted right after the USTA published all the information players missed last August—just sayin.
- NTRP Nationals Ch-ch-ch-changes! A victory lap celebrating that the 2024 event will use the Coman tie-break after six years of lobbying for that rule change. Was I responsible for this? Maybe… Escalating the Tiebreak Issue
- New Qualification Rules for NTRP Nationals. A detailed breakdown of the new qualification rules for the 2024 event.
- Understanding Automatic Qualification for the NTRP National Championships. Everything you ever wanted to know about AQ, but were afraid to ask. (Now that I think about it, that would have been a much better title for that post.)
- Rolling the Dice on NTRP Nationals. More implications of the new selection policies and timeline impacts for travel arrangements.
- NTRP National Championships and the Tyranny of the Calendar. An essay on why this is the right tournament at the wrong time.
- The Devil is in the Doubles. An examination of the complicating factors that likely drove the USTA to the longer entry lead times for Doubles at this year’s event.
- Mixing it Up at the 2024 NTRP National Championships. Advanced selection considerations for the new Mixed Doubles events at this tournament.
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- About NTRP: National Championships, USTA Informational Page, last viewed 1/19/2023
