Question for So. Cal 5.0 players (sandbagging)

[atatu]

Well, noticed that the Socal 5.0 team won Nationals, they didn't lose a single match along the way. Also saw an article in Inside Tennis that at sectionals they only brought three guys and defaulted a line every time and they still won. Looked at their roster and noticed Bruce Man Son Hing is listed as a 4.5. So here's the question....are you kidding me ? That guy played #1 singles at a D1 school and recently won the National Father/Son championships. I saw him take apart a very good #1 UCSB player a couple of times in the late 80's. Now he's relegated to playing doubles for his USTA team ? Are all the guys playing 5.0 league in Socal that good or were these guys sandbagging ?

[Steve Huff]

It wouldn't be the 1st time

[bruce]

A number of Norcal teams that went to Nationals, who had been unchallenged in local/sectional play, and who were full of sandbaggers themselves, lost to others who had better sandbaggers ... the sandbagging phenomenon is alive and well.

One of the players in my local 3.5 league had a player who, just after the season ended, won a 4.5 tournment. Sandbagging a full point or more is probably the norm for those who win nationals, so that SoCal guy rated as (probably self-rated as) a 4.5 is in reality probably a 6.0.

Well, us hackers who are true to our rating can fight it out with our brethren to be top of the middle of our leagues (those at the top sandbag, those at the bottom are playing up).

With the Norcal results this year, I guess Norcal will move everyone down a notch because they want to be competitive at Nationals. In other words, let's make 4.5 players actually be rated as 3.0, then we can win some national titles. Yay! (sarcasm on).

Bruce

[Trey]

It's funny because in Non-USTA leagues where there are no "Nationals" or any prizes for winning things people tend to play up above their real levels. I am in a 3.5 league and there are a lot of what I consider at best 3.0 players. My last 2 matches were 6-0 6-0, 6-0 6-1. My opponents probably thought I was sandbagging

[couch]

I think the more this sandbagging bullcrap goes on the more the age groups sounds better. I recently played in a tournament that was an age rated tournament and had a great time. This tournament had an open level and an age rated level. I guess you'll soon see people saying they are 35 when they are actually 25 to play in the 35's. As I said before; you have two types of players that play usta now: those who play as hard as they can and those who play the system to stay down at a certain level. I guess it depends on why you play. I am definitely playing more now because I enjoy tennis.

The system is set up based on people being honest. That is the problem.

[Cruzer]

The USTA rating system has more holes in it than a 50 pound block of swiss cheese. The latest and purportedly greatest solution is the TPI rating system but the administrative overhead to operate that seems onerous and that system will still be prone to cheaters. I would say the vast majority, about 90% play straight up and are playing as hard as they can to get their ratings to go up. It is the other 10% that are blatant cheaters that will work the current system any way they can to win.

[lendl lives]

the norcal 4.5 national team had at least a few 6.0's.