The USTA Adult and Family Tournaments, Ranking, and Sanctioning Regulations document specifies use of a player’s “best” 6 tournament performances for rankings calculations. I recently observed that competing in 6 tournaments to maximize ranking point opportunities requires players to dedicate approximately 12% of their yearly available weekend time to tournament play. As it turns out, that is actually only the tip of the iceberg.
The USTA Adult rankings are a cumulative tournament performance system. Rankings points are awarded on a per tournament basis based on how far a player advances in the event. One of the primary benefits of a cumulative performance based system is that players are not penalized for playing additional tournaments after a high ranking is achieved. That completely aligns with the “More Tennis” guiding principle embraced by this site.
Even within a cumulative performance ranking system, there has to be limits. It is neither equitable nor fair to award excess ranking points to people with the time and resources to support competing in tournaments every weekend. Counting an unlimited number of tournaments would turn pursuit of tennis rankings into an endurance exercise. Only the people with significant resources and copious free time could realistically prevail in such a system. In fact, six tournaments may already be pushing that envelope.
As a point of comparison, the ITF Senior ranking system includes the “best” four tournament performances. Before the USTA unveiled the current unified national framework, the Texas Section used the “best” five tournaments as a basis for calculation. I believe that six was selected by the USTA Adult Competition Committee for the current national system under the belief that the higher number would drive increased participation. On the surface, that logic makes intuitive sense.
Even at the 12% load on available weekends, six is not a completely unreasonable number of tournaments for players who compete in only one division. However, there are a lot of tournament players who have both the opportunity and the desire to compete in multiple divisions.
For example, drawing from my personal experience, my top priority USTA tournament play is concentrated on age group restricted open divisions. As a former junior tournament competitor, it is the system the USTA primed me to embrace.
Additionally, due to the capricious and arbitrary nature of the USTA NTRP algorithm, I am currently rated NTRP 4.5 this year. In fact, the Trophy Husband was pretty excited at my “bump-down” this year because it means that once again we can compete in the same NTRP tournaments. Theoretically.
If I wanted to maximize my tournament ranking for both NTRP and Senior Open tennis, that would push my required tournament participation to 12 total. The Senior tournaments I play are usually Level 1 or 2 which means that the number of days required to compete those events are even more lengthy than NTRP tournaments at Level 4 and 5. While play would then consume 25% of my calendar weekends, it would also require a significant number of vacation days. I simply do not have the time.
The reality is that I have yet to compete in an NTRP tournament in 2022. My recent injury is certainly a factor, but it is not a complete explanation. At the time I hurt my foot, the only NTRP tournament I had circled on my calendar was the San Antonio Tennis Association (SATA) Level 5 in July. I am now healthy enough to play it, but decided to prioritize my Section’s Semi-Annual meeting that is scheduled for that same weekend instead.
The tyranny of the tennis calendar is real. Tournaments, USTA League, and tennis related volunteer engagement creates additional demands and constraints on time. I have come to accept that it is unlikely that I will compete in 6 tournaments that contribute to any single ranked division this year. Additionally, that will likely be the case for as long as I continue to work full time.
All this has brought me to my current state of rankings ambivalence. When a person who self-identifies as the “Fiend at Court” becomes apathetic about pursuing tournament ranking points… tennis, we have a problem.
Tomorrow I will cover one more driving factor in rankings point fragmentation. The USTA merrily created new divisions based on age restricted NTRP play in an apparent effort to increase participation. I do not believe there was much anticipation or consideration of the potential negative side effects as that decision was made. The impact on the ranking system is one such area where the downside is readily apparent.
- USTA Adult Tournaments Ranking System, as of February 2022, viewed April 29, 2022.
- USTA Adult and Family Tournament, Ranking, & Sanctioning Regulations, Amended December 2020, viewed April 29, 2022.
- ITF Seniors Tour 2022 Regulations, International Tennis Federation, effective from May 3, 2022.
