Find out what your rating is

Kristianne Bontempo | Towpath Tennis Employee | Legit Tennis Fanatic

In our last blog post, we mentioned USTA’s latest method for how to self-rate. To make your life easier, we’ve attached the link to their simple video tutorial in self-rating. http://tennislink.usta.com/Leagues/HelpTutorials/ab050000.html

However, while we don’t need to hold your hand throughout the actual process, we do want to help guide you in how to come up with your rating request. USTA has again made life easy by creating a rating chart, so we first advise you to compare your skills to the following:

(click link below for larger image)

http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/USTA_Import/USTA/dps/doc_13_7372.pdf 

Also check out the link below for a second chart that describes exactly what skills you would expect to possess for each kind of stroke per rating level.

http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/USTA_Import/dps/usta_master/sitecore_usta/USTA/Document%20Assets/2006/04/03/doc_13_12278.pdf

Be honest with yourself and your skill level. You're not doing anyone any favors by rating yourself lower for easy wins (which might not be fun and will win you bad looks from other players) or rating too high where you’re constantly getting crushed (also not fun or great for popularity). If you find yourself deciding between two ratings, our rule of thumb is to self-rate yourself at the lower rating if you are a woman (who tend to see themselves about a .5 level too high-an NTRP social status thing) but at the higher rating if you are a man (men tend to be more concerned with winning than social status). After a year of playing, the dynamic rating system will have churned out a new rating for you based on your match results, which in fact might move you up or down a level after all.

If you need to appeal, the USTA has actually made this an easy process. If you think you have a good reason (e.g., haven’t played in years, “played” for a college but by sitting on the bench, have restricted mobility of some sort), then you may have a shot to submit a written appeal. Be aware that just because you make an appeal does not mean you’ll get it. In fact, the odds are probably against it unless you truly have a good reason.

Lastly, if you’re still struggling on what to self-rate yourself, ask any of our teaching pros for assistance. They know the rating system all too well and can give you a valid opinion or can set up a lesson for an evaluation.

Good luck and happy playing!


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Does self-rating work?

Kristianne Bontempo | Towpath Tennis Employee | Legit Tennis Fanatic

Summer USTA season is right around the corner, and one of the questions we help to answer is what’s up with self-rating and does the system work. Many new USTA members struggle to understand the rating system, as do members that have been playing in the USTA for over 30 years! Unfortunately the system can seem quite complex, but the USTA tries its best to make the process as simple as possible…right.

Prior to the days of self-rating, the USTA used verifiers to rate players. This method definitely had its pros and cons. A good thing about a verifier was that they could review a player with a questionable rating during a match and quickly correct it. But one of the most common flaws was the short time a verifier would have to rate a player, sometimes within just a doubles group with 3 other players also being verified. So because I’m a slow starter, does that mean the verifier will rate me off of my shanks and rimmers, or because I’m just a pusher the verifier will not see that I win 99% of my matches? Thankfully to save on time, expenses, and other quarrels, the USTA developed a dynamic computer rating system where players are being continually rated based on their actual match scores (instead of how pretty or ugly our strokes are). However, without verifiers to place new players in a level, newcomers or former players returning to the league after a gap of time must self-rate according to USTA guidelines in order to register for a team.

USTA has you complete an online survey that determines 

your NTRP rating.

How this works is new or returning members that haven’t played in 3 years (2 if over 60 years old) who want to self-rate are subject to answering on the USTA website, a series of questions in all honesty and to the best of their ability about their tennis experience, and then consider what their own skill level should be according to the NTRP (National Tennis Rating Program) guidelines. How could this possibly be flawed? Well, sometimes players either overrate or underrate because they answer questions too literally, don’t interpret them quite correctly, or fail to provide certain information. We continue to see players underrating themselves especially because someone recruiting them told them to rate at that level for a stronger chance of winning with their teams, or older returning players being overrated just because they once upon a time played for a college team.  

This online rating system doesn’t always ask the right questions to uncover facts such as hardly playing while on a college team or that you were only an average high school player who walked onto a mediocre college team. Or what about the difference between a junior player ranked 50 in a very populated section vs. one with the same ranking in a remote section—should they be the same? The difference between a senior 3.5 player and an adult 3.5 might in reality be more like the difference between a male 3.5 and a female 3.5. And suppose you’re a really good singles player but a lousy doubles player—the NTRP system will treat you the same in both singles and doubles. The self-rating system simply does not account for these kinds of issues, they’re just considered the same. 

Sure there are consequences for those that underrate (or overrate). You have the occasional disqualifications here and there for being underrated, or you have some players who can’t find a team to take them because they’re overrated. There is also the issue of the spike of juniors (18 year olds not in college yet) self rating. The questions given can’t always gauge their skill level off of their smaller track record. This is why juniors can be a hot recruitment target since they are typically fast, hit harder, and can improve quickly (and we wonder why the 40 and over league was created-hmm). 

Self-rating can be a tricky business, but in our next blog post we will guide you in how to self-rate. We’re curious, how do you think the USTA should self-rate? Do you think the current system we have is working? Let’s hear your thoughts.  

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