Fiend at Court Unplugged
One of the benefits of the new USTA National Tennis Tournament framework unveiled for 2021 is that the majority of local tournaments are now open to USTA members regardless of residency. Additionally, those events award ranking points toward the player’s USTA National ranking that impacts tournament seeding and selection into exclusive events. After the first full year of competitive play under the new system, disparities in how each USTA Section is awarding sanctions for tournaments in accordance with the new framework has become apparent.
Within the USTA’s 7 Tier national tournament framework, events at Levels 1, 2, and 3 are “National” level tournaments. Those events require a sanction issued by USTA National. Tournaments at Level 4 and below are sanctioned at the Section or District Level. The USTA Adult and Family Tournament Sanctioning Regulations strictly limits the number of Level 4 sanctioned tournaments that a sectional association can authorize.
Section Level 4 Adult and Family Tournaments.
Annually, each Sectional Association shall be authorized to sanction:
• Up to two Closed Section Level 4 Tournaments in each division that are limited to residents of the Sectional Association; and
• One or more Open Section Level 4 Tournaments in each division that are open to players from any Sectional Association
USTA Adult and Family Tournament, Ranking & Sanctioning Regulations, VII.A
Level 4 sanctions are obviously intended for events at the Sectional Championship Level. My home section of Texas uses both Level 4 “Closed” sanctions for the Sectional Championship and the Master’s Championships. Texas did not schedule a Level 4 “Open” in 2021 and does not have one scheduled for 2022 either.
When the USTA unveiled the new 7 tier framework in 2021, Texas had already had a existing tiered framework of its own for tournaments within the Section. “Major Zone” was the nomenclature for tournaments that were on the next tier down from the Level 4 events. In 2019, there were nine “Full” Major Zone tournaments conducted at the Adult level in Texas. There were also an additional five “Doubles Only” Major Zones. That is a total of 14.
Under the new USTA framework in 2021, Texas conducted 16 Adult Level 5 tournaments. The increased number is primarily due to Senior Age-Group Major Zones adding senior NTRP levels and picking up the Level 5 designation. In other words, the number of Major Zone/Level 5 tournaments in Texas was consistent under the new framework as it was under the legacy system.
In the post “Planning Tournament Participation in 2022” published last week, I mentioned that I played a Level 5 tournament in Oklahoma City in 2021. That precipitated the observation that the host facility, the Greens Country Club, conducted 12 Level 5 tournaments in 2021. That fact is jarring coming from Texas where the section office has made a concerted effort to limit the number of Level 5 tournaments as well as to distribute them geographically across the Section.
This prompted me to examine how other sections were sanctioning Level 5 tournaments. The following table summarizes the total number of Level 5 tournaments that were scheduled in each USTA Section.
| Section | Level 5 “Open” Tournaments |
| Caribbean | 0 |
| Eastern | 23 |
| Florida | 37 |
| Hawaii | 0 |
| Intermountain | 27 |
| Mid Atlantic | 4 |
| Middle States | 41 |
| Midwest | 3 |
| Missouri Valley | 27 |
| New England | 14 |
| Northern | 0 |
| Northern California | 2 |
| Pacific Northwest | 8 |
| Southern | 33 |
| Southern California | 25 |
| Southwest | 10 |
| Texas | 16 |
What the table reveals is that some of the other USTA Sections are handing out Level 5 sanctions broadly with no restriction on the number that can be conducted. The net result is that there are more opportunities to earn Level 5 points for players in Texas by traveling to another State rather than by playing local tournaments in Texas. The playing community is starting to become aware of that fact.
Tennis players in Texas are starting to sidle up to me at tournaments and slip into my direct messages to complain about that very thing. Usually the ire is rooted because a player above them in the rankings list traveled out of state and earned Level 5 points against a very small field of below level competition.
It wouldn’t surprise me if avid tournament players in Texas express outrage when seeing the table above for the first time. Up until this point, most players seem to be blissfully unaware of the disparity. That will change as more and more players realize that making a run across the border is a quick and easy way to “earn” ranking points in a hurry.
Tomorrow I will write about what the USTA Regulations actually say about Level 5 sanctions.
- USTA Adult and Family Tournament, Ranking & Sanctioning Regulations, Adopted May 14, 2020 and Amended December 2020.
Wow! Thanks for revealing this! For those of us whose hopes end at the Simply the Best tournament (level4 Closed) each year, I understand that Texas USTA keeps track of points for the players throughout the year, but only includes the tournaments played in Texas. These points are used for the invitations and for seeding for that tournament.
They are also great in keeping track of the NTRP Mixed Doubles points which the national system has not done to this point.