Have you ever wanted to go down

[TennisPlayer4Life]

Just a little background on me,

I am currently am a USTA computer rated played at the 3.5 level and I play leagues and tournaments. I play strictly doubles in leagues and single0s\doubles\mixed in tournaments. TLS puts me down as a 2.99, tennis record puts me down as a 3.0273, and UTR puts me down as a 2.44 for singles and a 2.10 for doubles.

I have two questions though
1) When does USTA stop taking ratings for the 2017 year? I understand that the new ratings will come out around the beginning of December.

2) Also, just curious if I was the only odd one that wanted to go down to a 3.0 level. I don't believe I am a 3.0 player in doubles and think I would make a very solid 3.0 singles player or a strong 3.0 player in a 7.0 mixed line.

I can explain why I want to go down in rating if need be.

 

[Mongolmike]

From the title alone your thread went in a direction completely unrelated to where I thought it might be going.

That is all I have to say.

 

[CosmosMpower]

I don't see anything wrong with playing down or at the top of your level. Winning is fun, losing all the time being bottom of the barrel sucks. I'm surprised your UTR is only 2.4 and 2.1 with a 3.0 ish dynamic rating. I'm at 3.3 on tennis record but a 4.75 UTR in singles. I usually do pretty well against 3.5's in USTA.

 

[J011yroger]

Not a single person in the USTA wants to play at a lower level so that they can win more.

J

 

[esgee48]

Yes, Mr. Rogers quotes the Ultimate Truth. We're all warriors until we hit the dreaded 50 YO mark. That's when we realize that the person we're playing could be your own son or daughter and they're whipping your fanny. [Sigh] Time to go back into hiding in the Man Cave.

 

[eelhc]

I don't see anything wrong with playing down or at the top of your level. Winning is fun, losing all the time being bottom of the barrel sucks. I'm surprised your UTR is only 2.4 and 2.1 with a 3.0 ish dynamic rating. I'm at 3.3 on tennis record but a 4.75 UTR in singles. I usually do pretty well against 3.5's in USTA.

Depends on one's outlook and perspective...

If I'm being blown off the court losing is no fun.... But I enjoy playing guys who are better than me that I can hang with and maybe lose by a break each set much better than winning sets by 2 breaks.

This past week I finally beat a guy I've been playing for 4 years.... He used to beat me 6-2, 6-3 (1~2 breaks). Doubt it was very fun for him way back when. Both of us have been making progress but in the last year I closed the gap. That single win is much sweeter than a low of easy wins put together.

 

[Mr.Lob]

From the title alone your thread went in a direction completely unrelated to where I thought it might be going.

That is all I have to say.

Ditto. Best click bait, that wasn't click bait,I've seen in a long time.

 

[norcal]

I thought this was a conversation between Martina Navratilova and Margaret Court.

 

[CosmosMpower]

Depends on one's outlook and perspective...

If I'm being blown off the court losing is no fun.... But I enjoy playing guys who are better than me that I can hang with and maybe lose by a break each set much better than winning sets by 2 breaks.

This past week I finally beat a guy I've been playing for 4 years.... He used to beat me 6-2, 6-3 (1~2 breaks). Doubt it was very fun for him way back when. Both of us have been making progress but in the last year I closed the gap. That single win is much sweeter than a low of easy wins put together.

Being at the very very bottom of a rating will likely get you blown off the court if you're in a competitive area.

 

[ChaelAZ]

@Startzel sandbagger droning in 5....4....3....2....

 

[J011yroger]

@Startzel sandbagger droning in 5....4....3....2....

#triggered

J

 

[Startzel]

You sound like everyone that takes the fun out of league tennis.

 

[OnTheLine]

To answer your question, I believe qualified league and tournament play, USTA uses matches through the end of October, perhaps through mid-November. After that will count towards next year's rating

There can be many reasons to want to stay in your own ranking, including having team(s) that you really like and fit with the other teammates, at higher rankings, it can be harder to find leagues or teams, but not so at 3.0/3.5 for certain.

I made the move from 3.0 to 3.5 last year and just didn't think that the quality of play is all that different between those two levels, (of course a greater spread from the bottom of 3.0 to the top of 3.5, but middle to middle not that great) I think there is a bigger difference from 3.5 to 4.0.

If you are typically playing line 1 in singles or doubles at 3.0, if you get bumped you will likely slot into S2 or D3/4 and you will find the level of competition probably very similar to what you are playing now.

 

[schmke]

The year "ends" typically when the last Nationals is complete.

 

[edathompson2]

@Startzel sandbagger droning in 5....4....3....2....

Holy crap you completely nailed that one!

 

[kevrol]

I don't see anything wrong with playing down or at the top of your level. Winning is fun, losing all the time being bottom of the barrel sucks. I'm surprised your UTR is only 2.4 and 2.1 with a 3.0 ish dynamic rating. I'm at 3.3 on tennis record but a 4.75 UTR in singles. I usually do pretty well against 3.5's in USTA.

I'm a 3.31 on TennisRecord and a 3.74 on UTR.

Not a single person in the USTA wants to play at a lower level so that they can win more.

J

You serious Clark?

 

[CosmosMpower]

I'm a 3.31 on TennisRecord and a 3.74 on UTR.


You serious Clark?

I think part of my UTR has to do with a tournament I played. There was a guy that moved to town recently, he was a 3.5 but had the same name as another guy in town that was a high 4.0. I think UTR mixed their results together as it showed that guy who I beat in the first round of a tournament as a 9 on UTR. There's no way the guy I beat was a 9. The 9 had to belong to the solid 4.0 player who obviously was not in the 3.5 tournament. I did beat a 5 singles UTR player in the same tournament though so maybe 5 makes sense for me.

Tennis Record is not showing any results from that tournament. Do they not pull in USTA sanctioned tournaments into their results, only league play?

 

[Maximus XXIV]

It is easier to get better by playing better players, of course up to the point of being blown out all the time. I would personally prefer to play a bit above my level than below it. I care less about winning and more to enjoy the experience. At the end of my tennis career, no one in the world will care what my record is or what games I won. I have a hard time remembering if I won last week.