It is pretty clear that WTN will not have much of an impact on USTA League play. In fact, the USTA has gone out of its way to reassure players that the NTRP system will remain the foundation of USTA League Play for years to come. That’s a good thing because as currently structured, NTRP USTA League play is fundamentally incompatible with WTN.
I have arrived at the inescapable conclusion that WTN will not have much of an impact on USTA League Play. Even though the organization has made it clear that WTN is not a valid basis for filing disqualification grievances, my crystal ball says that many will be filed. Even after the inadmissibility of WTN-based complaints against other players is accepted, the new rating system will be a sore point for years to come. It is the surprising downside of the seamless integration of the WTN USTA player records.
Enterprising captains will use WTN as both a scouting and recruiting tool. Especially if it is as “accurate” as the stakeholders of the new system claim.
Looking beyond those impacts, there might be value in allowing players with the high-confidence blue check mark WTN numbers to be assigned first-time NTRP Computer ratings instead of the “Self” designation. I previously proposed that idea for juniors aging into the adult tennis ecosystem, but that same approach could be used for collegiate players or adults who played in enough WTN tournaments before getting sucked into the USTA League system.
Last December I floated a crazy idea to create a League format that starts with local progressive play and a subsequent flow of the top players into a Sectional Championship. “A Serious Progressive Proposal” was that original post. It occurred to me this week that the hypothetical format could use WTN Ratings at the end of the season to determine who would go on to represent the team in the playoffs.
One drawback of that idea is that there might not be a lot of dynamic changes in the WTN rating lists throughout a short league season. However, using WTN in that way would encourage every player to improve their performance level over time to be the best they can be.
The current NTRP-based USTA League system does not incentivize players to perform at their absolute top level. The players that have the most “success” are those that can stay a notch below what arguably might be their proper rating. Many players carefully curate their play to manage their NTRP rating. This seems to be culturally acceptable in that context due to the pervasive belief that “everybody is doing it.”
There would be a tremendous benefit from creating a USTA League product that incentivizes players to be the best they can be. WTN and progressive-based leagues are a potential way to do exactly that.
A dynamic rating system may be beneficial in the adult leagues if it is accurate and if it can’t be gamed as easily as the NTRP ratings can be. If the USTA equates an NTRP rating to a WTN range, what’s to stop players from tanking games/sets/matches to stay within the WTN range like some do to maintain a certain NTRP?
Also, since the WTN debuted on the USTA player profiles, I’ve noticed my own number swing up three digits then back down one digit which resulted in my band changing accordingly. These seemed like large swings in a short period of time, especially given the years of matches I have in the system. The bands for adult play would need to be wider than what is shown on the USTA player profile or locked in for a period of time so players don’t disappear from team eligibility each time their WTN is updated. This could also open up the possibility of reverse tanking that pushes an opponent out of the WTN band and makes them ineligible for future matches. And if this were to happen, would the USTA offer a pro rata refund for the remaining matches you are no longer eligible to play in? WTN in adult leagues sounds appealing but to work it would need to be more stable than what I’m currently seeing and its eventual implementation may look surprisingly like the current NTRP ratings system.