How much do you have to play to get bumped up?

[TXTennisFan]

I am currently rated a 3.0 and want to get bumped up to 3.5 this year. I had a terrible record in 2015, maybe 2-6 in league play, but was largely due to being new to the game and being matched with 2.5 partners (I know, everybody blames weak partners, but I swear it's true ).

In 2016, I was 4-0 on my 3.0 spring team and 4-2 on my 3.5 team, all doubles play. I was 2-0 on another 3.0 spring team that they asked me to play on because they were hoping to get to sectionals (which we did...I was 2-0 in the city tourney and 5-0 in sectionals). I was 0-2 on my summer 3.5 team and got hurt. I heard that leagues where you play less than 3 matches don't impact your rating but I'm not sure about that.

I believe that TX does factor tournament play into your ranking. I hope so...I won two 3.0 tournaments going 6-0 overall, and did pretty well in a few 3.5 tournaments, with an overall record of 4-2 with the losses both going to tiebreakers against ranked opponents.

I was injured for most of the summer so now I'm worried whether I have played enough to get bumped up. I'm going to try to play in as many matches as possible, and one more tournament. I just won my 3.5 line 1 doubles match today against a very strong team, and I hope I can get 3-4 more 3.5's in this year. I will probably play in 3-4 3.0's as well but frankly, since I haven't lost a 3.0 match in a year, I feel guilty playing in them.

If I do get to play 4 or 5 more games against 3.5 competitors and a few 3.0's as well, is that enough to impact my rating this year? If not, anybody know how often upward appeals are granted? Finally, are sectionals games factored into your rating in TX? Thanks for reading my long note; I didn't intend to write so much.

 

[Moveforwardalways]

There posters here who can tell you if you will be bumped, but they will need your info.

 

[schmke]

Whether you are bumped up or not depends on several factors, primarily the scores of your matches and strength of your opponents. But the number of matches you have played is certainly enough to move your rating and get you bumped up if the results support it. If you are interested in getting a report estimating your rating, see http://computerratings.blogspot.com/p/example-individual-estimated-dynamic.html and contact me.

And yes, Texas does include tournament results in your year-end rating, and yes Sectionals count too and in fact carry extra weight, so how you do/did there really matters.

 

[Startzel]

Hard to imagine you won't be bumped up with that season.

 

[NTRPolice]

It's not a set number of wins. It's your performance against the predetermined results. If you're expected to lose 0-0 to a super strong opponent, but you instead win 0-0 against them, that win will count more than a win of 7-6(10-0) against an opponent that you were supposed to lose to.

When you "play up" you are basically winning against opponents that you're supposed to be losing to. When you play at level, you are not expected to win every match unless you're the highest DNTRP in your area.

Unless you can see DNTRP, you cant really tell what it would take to get bumped. You can only make an educated guess. Look up the records of all your opponents. If they are playing two levels and winning, you know they are stronger than a player who plays only one level and is losing. This is why your W/L record isnt always the full story. If you're a middle of the road player and you only beat the people below you, you may be that rank forever even if you're 5W/0L for the season. If you're 5W/0L and have beaten every team in the league, then you're probably going to get bumped because you had to have beaten the strongest players locally. Even if there are 12 matches total, you play 3 and win all 3, if those 3 wins were the top rated teams/players, you could get bumped!

 

[TXTennisFan]

Thanks everyone for the info, very helpful. Good to hear that those sectional matches count!

I know that it can still help my rating even if I lose, if I've lost to strong opponents. I have played good 3.5 teams in league play, but what I have going for me is my 3.5 tourney play. I won against several ranked opponents, lost in tiebreaker to a ranked team, and lost in tiebreaker in tournament finals against very solid opponents.

I know that it isn't the end of the world if I don't get bumped; I can still play up in leagues and tournaments. All three 3.5 captains at my club have asked me to play on their team, and I doubt my regular tourney partner will dump me if I don't get bumped. I guess I just want to see that hard work pay off and be rewarded with a 3.5.