First Year in USTA .

[Tennis_tennis]

2013 was my first year in USTA and have been playing tennis since Jan 2009.
I am self rated 4.0 player in NTRP. I played 13 tournaments in 2013. Out of that I won 4 championships and 3 runner ups.
In between I played Men's open 35's as well and reached the finals.

Ended 2013 inside in the Top 5 rankings for 4.0 in my section as well.

Is this a pretty good achievement for my first year in competitive tennis ?

I would like to expand my playing horizon by playing in 4.0 nationals, men's open 35's like that ?

I would like to play in the next level as well. Could any one please advice ?

How can I participate in those tournaments since i didn't find much information in the usta website.

 

[anubis]

2013 was my first year in USTA and have been playing tennis since Jan 2009.
I am self rated 4.0 player in NTRP. I played 13 tournaments in 2013. Out of that I won 4 championships and 3 runner ups.
In between I played Men's open 35's as well and reached the finals.

Ended 2013 inside in the Top 5 rankings for 4.0 in my section as well.

Is this a pretty good achievement for my first year in competitive tennis ?

I would like to expand my playing horizon by playing in 4.0 nationals, men's open 35's like that ?

I would like to play in the next level as well. Could any one please advice ?

How can I participate in those tournaments since i didn't find much information in the usta website.

Hi, welcome to the forums. I don't think you can get bumped up to the next level (4.5) by playing tournaments alone. There was a guy that self-rated 3.0 last year who played and won every single NTRP 3.0 tournament he played (in my area). He double bageled and double breadsticked everyone he played (including me). It was a total of 3 tournaments. He's still a 3.0 and will continue to play 3.0 tournaments this year as well (but I got bumped to 3.5).

If you want to get bumped, you're going to have to find a 4.5 team to join for the upcoming Spring USTA league. Play in it, kick butt, and you'll get bumped at the end of the year.

You can play 4.0 if you want to, I don't think it will hurt, but you'll help your NTRP more by playing up at 4.5.

When you play tournaments, do open level and 4.5 only, I'd recommend skipping 4.0.



...

and by the way, if you self rated at 4.0 and you made it to the semis or better for 7 tournaments, and you won four, then you self rated too low. You aren't really a 4.0, you are really a 4.5. So, you should have absolutely no trouble moving up to 4.5 if you join a 4.5 league in the Spring.

Good luck!

 

[Cindysphinx]

Sign up as my 8.0 mixed doubles partner. I promise, I will get my serves in and otherwise stay out of your way.

 

[GrandSlam45]

If you want to get bumped, you're going to have to find a 4.5 team to join for the upcoming Spring USTA league. Play in it, kick butt, and you'll get bumped at the end of the year.

You don't necessarily have to kick butt to get bumped into the next level. The USTA computer rates you by how many games you win, not whether you win or lose. So for example if you play a 4.5 player and lost 6-4, 7-5 that would be considered a win to the USTA computer because you won a fair share of games against an opponent who's better than you.

So even if you lost all of your matches but came close, you would still get bumped up. Just don't get double baggled or double breadsticked and you'll be fine.

 

[Tennis_tennis]

I didnt rate myself down to be frank.I am just playing tennis for correct 5 years..so I thought if I rate myself as 4.5 in march 2013 when I started usta it will be too much...bit if i compare my game in 2013 and the way I play now..I can feel a big difference. I think I improved quite a bit my playing 12 tournaments in this period of time.. so many of you guys are proposing me to play 4.5or open tournaments so that I can improve more right?

 

[dizzlmcwizzl]

If you are only playing tournies, a 4.0 rating is fine. You can always play up in 4.5 tournies any time you want. Presumably you would not be allowed to play in 5.0 tournies but I suspect there are rarely 5.0+ exclusive tournies.

Anything targeting the 5.0 population will likely be an open tourney and anyone can play those.

If you chose to get involved with leagues I think you will find a League 4.0s to be a little better than a tourney exclusive 4.0s. So unless you are dominating 4.0 tournaments and looking to get into league tennis I say, stay where you are and have fun.

 

[dizzlmcwizzl]

Regarding the age group tournaments. I think if you find a 35+ tournament with 8+ players in the draw it will be substantially better than 4.0 tournaments you have played.

With small draw tournaments it is a crap shoot ... who knows what you are going to get.

 

[NLBwell]

Yes, generally the guys who win the 35 and over tournaments are 5.5 level players or better.

 

[Tennis_tennis]

So this year i decided to play some 4.0 matches , Men's Opens & Men's 35's open
Hope i can improve my game there.

 

[Tennis_tennis]

One 35's open i played in 2013... i reached the finals and lost a guy who was 6.0 before and he told me.. he i snow at least 5.5....i lost 6-1, 6-1. then

 

[beernutz]

One 35's open i played in 2013... i reached the finals and lost a guy who was 6.0 before and he told me.. he i snow at least 5.5....i lost 6-1, 6-1. then

If you have only been playing 5 years and are able to take games off of 5.5 rated players then you have accomplished and improved a lot more than the average player.

Did you have a background in another sport before taking up tennis? Are you paying for regular tennis coaching?

 

[Tennis_tennis]

Yes i have been only playing since Nov 2008, which is roughly 5 years and 2 months .
I never went for a tennis lesson too in my life. Many people ask me whether i had been to any coaching. To be frank i never been to any coaching.
started playing tennis by hitting against the wall at the age of 31, played 3.0 league in Dec 2009 and won that league. from there i started playing lots of local leagues.

In 2009 i played one match in usta in 3.5 where lost in straight sets.

Then renewed my usta membership in 2012 and started playing in march 2013..

I played a cricket and shuttle badminton before and cricket is a sport where we need a very good footwork.. i guess it has helped in tennis too

 

[Tennis_tennis]

i started playing 4.0 in usta in march 2013