How do I
get a USTA rating?
If it's
your first time playing USTA tennis then you self-rate before playing in a
USTA tennis league or tournament. The USTA has rating guidelines in the form
of a chart with text descriptions of what playing ability you should have
for each level (1-beginner to 7.0 world-class player).
More often than not, new players are guided by tennis pros or more
experienced players in choosing what their USTA rating should be.
How does a
USTA self-rated player gets a "true" rating?
First
you self-rate to start with and then after you play USTA tournaments or
leagues your rating gets adjusted by the USTA computers. Your computer
adjusted rating is published near the end of each year.
How do I
determine my USTA rating?
For
self-rating you use the USTA guideline chart. Active USTA players can use
TennisLink to look it up online.
How do I
find my USTA rating?
You go
to TennisLink and look it up. It
will only show you your year-end rating from your play last year. The rating
you were assigned at the end of last year is your current rating for this
year. The USTA maintains a working rating number that changes as you play
matches called a Dynamic USTA Rating.
It's kept secret and it's used at the end of the year to determine if
your USTA rating needs to be increased or decreased.
How
do you find out your true USTA rating? How do I see my Dynamic USTA rating?
Why are dynamic USTA ratings a secret?
I
assume that the question means that the person asking the question is
interested in their current dynamic rating.
Your dynamic rating is a rating that the USTA updates every time you
play a USTA match. The Dynamic
rating is stored in the computer to 2 decimal places which makes a dynamic
rating a more detailed and accurate description of your playing level. The
USTA keeps dynamic ratings secret so you never get to see the most detailed
rating that the USTA has for you. The USTA keeps dynamic ratings a secret to
prevent tennis players from playing only to adjust their rating, with the
idea of "gaming the system". The
fear is that players will carefully control their win/lost record to keep
their ratings just below the next rating level.
This would allow a team to hold on to strong players and allow the
team a better chance of winning at the National Championships.
How do I
calculate my USTA rating?
Unlike
professional tennis players you can't.
The formula is kept a secret so that players can't "game the system".
When
do USTA ratings change?
What time of year do USTA ratings change?
The
USTA publishes ratings (known as year-end ratings) about a month before the
end of the year. You start using
the new ratings at the start of the new year.
How do I
determine if my USTA rating will go up?
You
can't. You can look at your results and make an educated guess, but whether
your rating moves you up or not isn't just based on your playing results.
The USTA also makes across the board adjustments to how the rating levels
divide players. It's like
grading on a curve where the USTA can decide if they need to adjust the
rating system. Another reason to keep dynamic ratings secret, the USTA isn't
going to disappoint you when they don't move you up if they need to change
who's falling into what rating level.
How do I
move up in the USTA rating system?
The
system is performance based so if you play well and get good results then
your dynamic rating improves.
Once your dynamic rating improves pass a cutoff point (the next rating leve)
then you move up to the next rating level. Your official USTA rating only
changes at the end of each year (Unless the computer decides you are playing
far above your rating level. The computer can DQ (disqualify) your playing
results and change your rating at any time.)
Can
you move up a rating in one USTA season?
You
official USTA rating (year end rating) is only adjusted at the end of the
year. In an extreme case players
who are underrated can be forced into the next level when the computer see
results that clearly indicate that someone is playing at the wrong level.
Once the computer sees three extreme wins it can DQ the person
(disqualifying them from playing at the current playing level) and change
their rating to the next playing level.
Are the
USTA ratings different for singles and doubles?
No
there's only one rating and although the games are different enough that
your skill level might differ greatly, currently the USTA doesn't directly
take that into account. It does
use singles results over doubles results so if you play both you can think
of your rating as a singles rating.
Is the
USTA rating system the same for men and women?
Yes.
Is there a
difference between USTA ratings for men and women?
Although the rating system is the same, men tend to play about a half of a
rating point stronger at the same rating level.
What are
the different "types" of USTA ratings?
You
have two ratings: Year-Ending Rating (your public rating, official rating)
and Dynamic Rating (internal working number for USTA eyes only).
Year-Ending Ratings are also labeled with how the rating was created: S –
Self-rated player A –
Appealed player B –
Benchmark player (generated from Regional, Sectional or National
Championship play) C –
Computer rated player (generated from Local League play) D –
Dynamic rated player M –
Mixed exclusive player T -
Tournament exclusive player
Do
6-0, 6-0 matches count in USTA ratings?
Yes, if
at least one game was played (meaning that it wasn't a defaulted match).
Do default
matches count in USTA ratings?
No,
since no games were played.
Does
winning or losing a match affect your USTA ratings?
Rating
changes are based on your game win percentage and not on who won the match.
The formula also takes into account who should have won based on the
ratings of the players. A higher
rated player could kill a lower rated player and not see a rating change
because the computer formula expected that result and therefore a rating
change is not merited.
Does
mixed doubles results count in USTA ratings?
If you
only play mixed doubles then they do get used, but if you play same gender
tennis those results are used because they allow a more accurate rating.
Does the
court number you play on in league tennis get used in calculating USTA
ratings?
No, you
can play on court 1 or court 3 and the only thing that computer cares about
is the ratings of the players and the result.
Does your
USTA rating go higher if you play singles?
It will
give you a more accurate rating at the end of the year because it is based
on only your playing abilities, but it doesn't change any faster.
I have a
much better playing record this season than my friend, but he got moved up
and I didn't, how can that happen?
He
might have started the season with a higher dynamic rating and only needed a
small increase to jump rating levels.
Results don't tell the whole story your friend might have played much
stronger opponents and even if he lost the rating formula could reward him
with a large rating increase for doing much better than expected.
Is it
possible to move to a higher USTA rating without winning a match?
Yes,
it's not winning that counts, it's how well you do compared to the USTA
computer's expectations.
Is it
possible to win all my matches and get moved down?
Yes,
you could play much weaker players and not beat them as badly as the
computer expected. Even though
you won all your matches your rating gets adjusted downwards.
Can I
raise my USTA rating just playing doubles?
Yes,
the computer doesn't care if you play singles or doubles.
How do
they determine when to move you up in USTA rating?
Just
before the end of the year the USTA computer uses your current dynamic
rating and a formula to see if you get pass the cutoff for the next rating
level. If you just miss the cutoff you'll be forced to wait another year
before the computer will look at bumping you either up or down from your
current rating.
How does
the USTA computer ratings system work?
How
does my USTA rating change if my team wins the local championship?
It
doesn't have an impact, but when players play at the higher championship
levels (district, sectional, nationals) your rating become a benchmark
rating which is used to adjust other local player ratings.
How fast
do USTA ratings change?
Your
dynamic rating changes with every match played.
Your year-end rating changes only at the end of each year.
How
high do USTA ratings go?
How low do USTA ratings go?
The
USTA ratings system starts at 1.0 for beginners and goes to 7.0 for World
Class Tournament players.
How long
does it take to move up a point in USTA ratings?
Ratings
change a halve of point at a time usually so it could take as little as two
years. Since you self-rate to
start out you normally would start at the correct rating and only through
improvements in your playing ability will you get a chance to move up.
Most players will never see the kind of improvement that would move
them up a full rating point which is two playing levels. It's mostly younger
players who have the time to invest in improving their games that can expect
to see the most improvement in their playing ability and therefore see major
ratings increases.
How
many 3.5 rated players can be on a 4.0 team?
Normally it's not a problem for players to play up, so restrictions on how
many lower level players can play on a team is the kind of rule that a local
league might make.
How do I
improve my USTA rating?
By
improving your playing ability and by then getting better results.
You need to do better than the computer expects you to do to see
ratings improvements.
How do I
keep my USTA rating low?
By
playing poorly either due to health problems or on purpose in order to try
and "game the system". In doubles your partner can play a big role in
determining your joint result and the impact on both your ratings.
Playing with someone having a bad playing day will pull down both of
your ratings.
What are
some of the problems with the USTA rating system?
Since
is not a fully transparent system a lot of people don't understand how it
works. When the results don't
make sense to them they think that the system doesn't work well.
One big
problem is that most USTA members play a lot of doubles and the rating
system really doesn't work well for doubles.
The system can't figure out how well individuals play in a doubles
match so it just treats a doubles team like a single player.
If one person plays really poorly or exceptionally well both players
ratings either go up or down by the same amount.
Will
playing up help improve my USTA rating?
If you
win against higher rated players it always helps your rating, but just by
playing at the higher rating level doesn't help.
Will
playing with a stronger partner help improve my USTA rating?
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