4.0 Nationals

[jl83]

4.0 Nationals coming up next week. Anyone going? Who are the favorites? Or should I say, who has the best sandbaggers?!

[jonnyjack]

Here's the team representing Norcal... http://norcaltennisdaily.com/?p=4242

[Matt H.]

my team is going.

We are representing Florida.

[jl83]

Matt - how was it? how did you and your team do?

[jonnyjack]

Here are the results:

http://tennislink.usta.com/LEAGUES/M...A69&CYear=2011

[KFwinds]

Not surprised by the results. The usual suspects making it to the finals.

My team got waxed at districts by the team from Chicago that made it to Nats. They had at least 4 guys that were way out of level and one that was ridiculously way out of level. They could only muster a 1-2 record in their flight. I guess even after all the adjustments the USTA has made over the last few years, it's still comes down to how many guys that you can recruit who are willing to rate .5-1.5 below their ability in order to acheive almighty bragging rights. And a pen...

Hats off to Cal and Texas for their recruiting prowess

[JLyon]

Texas was filled with a bunch of prior 4.5 Sectional level players in Texas

[tennismonkey]

just based on the results it sure seems like that texas team was really loaded. how are they prior 4.5 sectional players? they played up and made it to sectionals?

i know some of the guys on the northern virginia team which steamrolled through the regular season, districts and sectionals without breaking a sweat. makes me wonder what buzzsaw they ran into.

[jonnyjack]

Agreed, that's why I don't care about Nationals. I rather play at the right level and get competitive matches during the regular season instead of destroying everyone locally and then paying hotel/air to get destroyed by ringers at Nationals.

btw, looking through tennislink is an absolute nightmare. Why can't they use the same software that Norcal uses, haha. Do any of the other sections use their own software?

[goober]

Originally Posted by jonnyjack

btw, looking through tennislink is an absolute nightmare. Why can't they use the same software that Norcal uses, haha. Do any of the other sections use their own software?

I like norcal software too. I wish we would use it. The current software is very cumbersome and not easy to look up things. It needs to be more intuitive.

[Angle Queen]

Originally Posted by tennismonkey

i know some of the guys on the northern virginia team which steamrolled through the regular season, districts and sectionals without breaking a sweat. makes me wonder what buzzsaw they ran into.

Like you, TM, I know some of the women on the Mid-Atlantic team that similarly rolled rather easily though the same set...including their Flight at Nationals. Made it through the semis...then...ran into a HS senior at #1 singles. Still, they should/could have pulled out another win in doubles but didn't. Haven't talked to them but I'm sure it smarts to lose to a kid. Literally.

Hmmm, let's see. She played all of three times during regular season play, all at doubles. Then once each in her state tournament, at #3 doubles. Then, voila, she's a singles player at the Mid__West Sectionals and at Nationals. At Nationals, she dropped all of 14 games over 6 matches at #1 singles. Ahhh, gotta love those self-rates. But she had to, ya know. At 18, this is her first year at Adult USTA League.

shhh...she played 9.0 mixed much earlier in the year...and won all three matches.

I didn't realize, though, that USTA doesn't dynamic DQ...at Nationals. Strikes are generated...but not used. Bah. Why bother?

Here are the womens 4.0 National Championship brackets.

[goober]

Originally Posted by Angle Queen

Like you, TM, I know some of the women on the Mid-Atlantic team that similarly rolled rather easily though the same set...including their Flight at Nationals. Made it through the semis...then...ran into a HS senior at #1 singles. Still, they should/could have pulled out another win in doubles but didn't. Haven't talked to them but I'm sure it smarts to lose to a kid. Literally.

Hmmm, let's see. She played all of three times during regular season play, all at doubles. Then once each in her state tournament, at #3 doubles. Then, voila, she's a singles player at the Mid__West Sectionals and at Nationals. At Nationals, she dropped all of 14 games over 6 matches at #1 singles. Ahhh, gotta love those self-rates. But she had to, ya know. At 18, this is her first year at Adult USTA League.

shhh...she played 9.0 mixed much earlier in the year...and won all three matches.

I didn't realize, though, that USTA doesn't dynamic DQ...at Nationals. Strikes are generated...but not used. Bah. Why bother?

Here are the womens 4.0 National Championship brackets.

Not a big fan of lowering the age limit 18 several years ago. This allows high school students like this to compete in adult leagues. She is a 3 star recruit and one of the best players in her state- not a strong tennis state but she should be definitely 4.5 at a minimum. She is very likely going to play college tennis. She fits into the large gaping hole in the experienced players guidelines for junior players between 3.5 and 5.5.

[FloridaAG]

Originally Posted by Matt H.

my team is going.

We are representing Florida.

I know Rick and Elkin from your team

[jonnyjack]

Originally Posted by Angle Queen

Like you, TM, I know some of the women on the Mid-Atlantic team that similarly rolled rather easily though the same set...including their Flight at Nationals. Made it through the semis...then...ran into a HS senior at #1 singles. Still, they should/could have pulled out another win in doubles but didn't. Haven't talked to them but I'm sure it smarts to lose to a kid. Literally.

Hmmm, let's see. She played all of three times during regular season play, all at doubles. Then once each in her state tournament, at #3 doubles. Then, voila, she's a singles player at the Mid__West Sectionals and at Nationals. At Nationals, she dropped all of 14 games over 6 matches at #1 singles. Ahhh, gotta love those self-rates. But she had to, ya know. At 18, this is her first year at Adult USTA League.

shhh...she played 9.0 mixed much earlier in the year...and won all three matches.

I didn't realize, though, that USTA doesn't dynamic DQ...at Nationals. Strikes are generated...but not used. Bah. Why bother?

Here are the womens 4.0 National Championship brackets.

I just looked up this girl you're talking about. She played someone I know at Nationals, who's a pretty solid 4.0 singles player, and destroyed her too. This is exactly why self-rates should be banned from post-season play. They wouldn't have won the whole thing without her.

Maybe I should be register again for USTA and self-rate at 2.5 and then dominate all the way through to Nationals. I know I'll face 4.0 quality players there, haha.

[Ronaldo]

Originally Posted by jonnyjack

Agreed, that's why I don't care about Nationals. I rather play at the right level and get competitive matches during the regular season instead of destroying everyone locally and then paying hotel/air to get destroyed by ringers at Nationals.

btw, looking through tennislink is an absolute nightmare. Why can't they use the same software that Norcal uses, haha. Do any of the other sections use their own software?

Can win at Nat'ls. Never lost in the playoffs including Nat'ls. 12-0

[tennismonkey]

AQ -- i wonder if the USTA ever looks at the percentage of players in post-season play who are self rates. and then look at the percentage of individual wins these self rated players contribute. it's a huge advantage for any team to have 2 solid self rated players who are playing out of rating. it's like starting off 2-0 and needing just 1 doubles win out of 3 chances.

based on the results - it looks like most of these teams have more than 2 ringers each. i guess you don't bring 2 little knives to a gunfight.

[dennis10is]

Originally Posted by KFwinds

Not surprised by the results. The usual suspects making it to the finals.

My team got waxed at districts by the team from Chicago that made it to Nats. They had at least 4 guys that were way out of level and one that was ridiculously way out of level. They could only muster a 1-2 record in their flight. I guess even after all the adjustments the USTA has made over the last few years, it's still comes down to how many guys that you can recruit who are willing to rate .5-1.5 below their ability in order to acheive almighty bragging rights. And a pen...

Hats off to Cal and Texas for their recruiting prowess

It is good to know that adults, middle class or higher Americans, will do what ever it takes, lying and cheating, in order to win a meaningless game. One wonders what they will stoop to for something really important.

Do you think they cheat on their taxes, or lie on their resumes, or scam somebody in a business transaction? It can't be that these nice people, with their nice cars, and clothes, and manner, would cheat?

My world is shattered.

[Angle Queen]

Originally Posted by tennismonkey

AQ -- i wonder if the USTA ever looks at the percentage of players in post-season play who are self rates. and then look at the percentage of individual wins these self rated players contribute. it's a huge advantage for any team to have 2 solid self rated players who are playing out of rating. it's like starting off 2-0 and needing just 1 doubles win out of 3 chances.

If they don't (and it's fairly obvious they don't), they should. Since joining this board, and seeing how prevalent it is, I've even thought to do such an analysis for them so I've been collecting tidbits along the way. But alas, my time is probably better spent rooting on my beloved Spiders (esp after the atrocious way they played last w/e).

What's even more disturbing to me than a specific example of a team that wins it all with said self-raters, are the more nerve-wracking examples of teams that get to the playoffs...only to have a player DQed...where the retroactive DQ would have changed the outcome of the regular season or those playoffs. Legitimate teams...that never get the chance to go on. We had one such situation here in our area and I know if at least two more on the East Coast.

based on the results - it looks like most of these teams have more than 2 ringers each. i guess you don't bring 2 little knives to a gunfight.

Better to bring a handgun.

But I'll say this about the team I know of. To the best of my knowledge, none of them are self-rates. Granted, that team was built...with the expressed purpose of going somewhere. Not sure how it works in other areas (my eyes have been opened to that too here at TT ), but around here, most clubs require membership to play on their USTA teams. The facility this year's Mid-Atlantic team played out of is more independent minded...and their captain went out looking for some of the best, securely-rated talent. And she got it. The two women from our club on that team are indeed our best 4.0s (in fact, we lost their services, if you will, this past w/e in an important local tournament...because they were at Nationals). I'm proud of them and what they went through to make it to AZ. Both of them are professional women, one with small children...who gave a lot of their time and money to participate on this team. I hope they get another chance (at 4.5 ) to go again.

[HoustonHacker]

Originally Posted by JLyon

Texas was filled with a bunch of prior 4.5 Sectional level players in Texas

Quite an exaggeration. We had two players who had played at the 4.5 Sectional level and one of them (myself) did not play at Nationals this year.

Hats off to the Pacific NW.

[KFwinds]

Originally Posted by HoustonHacker

Quite an exaggeration. We had two players who had played at the 4.5 Sectional level and one of them (myself) did not play at Nationals this year.

Hats off to the Pacific NW.

But the question still, is: if these guys have previously played 4.5, what are they doing playing on a 4.0 team?