USTA SYSTEM
The USTA is the national governing body for the sport of tennis and the leader in promoting and developing the sport’s growth on every level in the United States, from local communities to the crown jewel of the professional game, the US Open. (usta.com)
The system is mostly broken down into tournaments and rankings, the two go hand in hand, but I think it is easier to understand the system as a whole by breaking it down into these two components. How to find tournaments/rankingsAll tournament and ranking information can be found on the USTA's website, click the button below to visit the Midwest tournament/ranking search tool.
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ranking systemThe USTA ranking system for North East Ohio (NEO) tennis players of 4 different rankings per age group. These are :
The ranking system only takes a players BEST 6 tournaments, therefore often parents think that every tournament is going to increase a players ranking, but this is not the case. Depending on the level of the tournament and type of tournament, the points allocation changes. Therefore, parents and players should aim to move up the tournament system from level 5's to Level 1's as much as possible. The most important ranking for a player is their Midwest and National ranking, therefore parents and players should schedule tournaments with their coaches to build a schedule that can help improve a players ranking and level of player. Colleges, tennis recruiting, and UTR use players results and rankings to build their recruiting profiles and ratings. Therefore, a players ranking is an important aspect of a player being recruited to play college tennis and it should be a focus for both players and parents to improve this. With that being said, the ranking/ratings are only really important when players are in U16 and U18 age groups. In younger age groups players should not worry about their ranking/rating, but rather focus on long term game development. |
TOURNAMENT sYSTEMIn the Midwest there are basically 5 types of tournaments for U12, U14, U16, and U18 players. These are
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