In 1971 the USTA created an educational advisory committee which quickly morphed into the Education and Research (E&R) office. The focus of E&R was expanding public participation in tennis. The ideas generated from this office included scholastic programs, a film lending library, a publications department, and clinics for tennis teachers. E&R was also the first unit to focus on player development.
Many of the remnants of these ideas can still be observed in the USTA today. One notable exception is the film lending library. Kids, if you don’t know what film is, it’s kind of like YouTube, only the video is on a something that looks like a roll of tape that is fed through a projector. Ask your parents.
By far the most profound and lasting impact of the E&R office was development of the National Tennis Rating Program (NTRP) system. I know that it originated from that office because I am in the middle of reading an exhaustive book on the history of the USTA. [1]
The fact that I am soldiering through such a book reveals that I am precisely within the narrow demographic of the realistic readership for such a publication. In the course of working my way through the material, I am finding many fascinating vignette’s of historical tennis facts that I wasn’t previously aware I needed to know. This is probably not the only time the contents of that book will come up on this site.
On the other hand, subjects that I thought would be recurring themes are barely covered. The NTRP system is one such example. It is mentioned exactly once in the book. The NTRP acronym isn’t even used. The author of the book credits the NTRP system with enabling the USTA league program. I believe that to be very much true, but right now I am focusing on tournaments.
The USTA national web page, indicates that the NTRP system was developed in 1978 as a classification system that identifies and describes the general characteristics of tennis-playing ability. [2] Simple, right? Anything but.
First of all, the web page describing the NTRP system does not actually contain a description of the various levels. I encountered this issue when having to self-rate when I returned to the sport after my short 28 year hiatus from organized competitive play. Challenges associated with NTRP initialization is a topic already earmarked for a future post. For now, I will simply observe that the “To find NTRP Rating information or to Self-Rate, click here” hyperlink on the USTA page referenced below navigates to a page that contains neither of those things.
The NTRP FAQ page is approximately 20 pages long when viewed through my default browser settings on a non-mobile computer. The first page is an picture of a player who seems to be really happy with her NTRP rating as evidenced my her ready position at the net and enigmatic Mona Lisa smile.
The first press of the “page down” key scrolls down to a description of NTRP and some general questions about the system. Page down again, and there is a description of the year end NTRP calculation process. I plan to talk about the year-end NTRP calculation tomorrow. For now I will describe it as mysterious computer algorithm that determines a players playing fate for the coming year.
Here is a summary the contents of the next 17 “page down” key presses: information on appeals, disqualification, grievance process, self rating, valid matches, more on year end ratings, more on appeals, more on appeals, the secrecy of the dynamic rating, age related NTRP freezes, disqualification, more on disqualification, “strikes”, disqualification notification procedures, more on dynamic disqualification, dynamic disqualification and mixed doubles, self-rating, tournament ratings, more on year end ratings, and the fact that NTRP Third Party Ratings are not valid sources for grievances or appeals. (Whew!)
OK, indulge me in a second chance to more clearly summarize the contents of that previous paragraph. The NTRP system is simple and elegant. When more that 75% of what is published on the system involves disqualification, grievances, and appeals… there might be some room for improvement in the overall player experience. Just an observation.
The NTRP system has become the basis for the majority of adult amateur tennis in the United States. It is an integral part of an incentive system that drives player behavior and has a profound impact on the player experience. This sets the stage for moving into what happens when players respond to incentives in unexpected ways. We will start with the year-end NTRP calculation.
- Kimball, Warren F. (2017) The United States Tennis Association: Raising the Game, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska.
- Adult NTRP Ratings: Questions and Answers, United States Tennis Association, viewed June 18, 2020.
