TennisMan70
New User
Could a utr 5 go to a utr 10.5-11 in 4 years?
Is it possible to go from a utr 5 to a utr 10.5 in 4 years
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Topspin Shot
Legend
Sure if a highly athletic and dedicated 12 year old takes up tennis and then gets to UTR 10.5-11 with top-flight coaches before he graduates high school. But 99% of the time no.
J011yroger
Talk Tennis Guru
If you are 12 years old, yes.
J
J
jcgatennismom
Hall of Fame
How old is the player now? Is the player aiming to play college tennis? If so, the player may have <4 years. In normal non pandemic years, many players verbally committed to schools the spring of their junior year or early fall of their senior year-the later commits were often preferred walk-ons-no athletic $ or guys with small scholarships.
Yet there are players who make big jumps. There was a young man who played low level HS tennis, that fell in love with tennis, convinced his mom to move to Florida somewhere between age 16 and 18, and actually earned a few ATP points. He was on a local tennis ladder in fall 2010 as a HS soph ranked below 10 and 11y/os . There was no UTR at the time but he was probably in the UTR 5-7 range. By summer of 2016 (if not before-first I can find his UTR), he was a UTR 12-a jump of 5-7 in less than 6 years. By March 2018, he hit UTR 13. However this young man did not go to college. He went down to Florida, trained and played like crazy and coached/Ubered in between tourneys for his expenses. His whole life was tennis-too bad he didnt get serious about it until 16-with an earlier start, he probably could have played some level of college tennis. I think he first picked up a racquet at 14, but didnt play HS until 16.
I remember talking to his mom because I was a volunteer on the ladder, and it was hard to find him matches because he didnt live near other players, and he was a HS player at a 6-7th grade level of play. Years later he practiced with my son at a Futures (my son mentioned him to me as the guy called him to hit when he was in our city). Son didnt remember him as he'd been one of the 11yos. I looked him up and saw he had a couple of points from 15ks outside the US-never would has guessed it from him. He peaked in 2019 at about 1400 ATP, but he will now probably have a career he enjoys coaching tennis.
The key though is with a late start to catch up, tennis and academics will have to be the main focus. Most guys who want to play college tennis, by the time fall of HS senior year rolls around, they have 6-7 years of regular play and tournaments. Hard to make up that ground in 4 years-you can't double the hours without risking injuries or burnout. However if a player is athletic, disciplined, and passionate about the sports with the right coach, he/she can make great improvements. I have also seen players who were very smart, homeschooled for 6 years to train 5-6 hours a day for tennis, loved the game, had parents who could afford the best coaches, put in the work, and still couldn't quite get to the level to play at the schools they wanted to attend-not even as a walk-on. Some of those quit the sport-others played club. One became a hitting partner/volunteer coach for the women's team at his college.
Yet there are players who make big jumps. There was a young man who played low level HS tennis, that fell in love with tennis, convinced his mom to move to Florida somewhere between age 16 and 18, and actually earned a few ATP points. He was on a local tennis ladder in fall 2010 as a HS soph ranked below 10 and 11y/os . There was no UTR at the time but he was probably in the UTR 5-7 range. By summer of 2016 (if not before-first I can find his UTR), he was a UTR 12-a jump of 5-7 in less than 6 years. By March 2018, he hit UTR 13. However this young man did not go to college. He went down to Florida, trained and played like crazy and coached/Ubered in between tourneys for his expenses. His whole life was tennis-too bad he didnt get serious about it until 16-with an earlier start, he probably could have played some level of college tennis. I think he first picked up a racquet at 14, but didnt play HS until 16.
I remember talking to his mom because I was a volunteer on the ladder, and it was hard to find him matches because he didnt live near other players, and he was a HS player at a 6-7th grade level of play. Years later he practiced with my son at a Futures (my son mentioned him to me as the guy called him to hit when he was in our city). Son didnt remember him as he'd been one of the 11yos. I looked him up and saw he had a couple of points from 15ks outside the US-never would has guessed it from him. He peaked in 2019 at about 1400 ATP, but he will now probably have a career he enjoys coaching tennis.
The key though is with a late start to catch up, tennis and academics will have to be the main focus. Most guys who want to play college tennis, by the time fall of HS senior year rolls around, they have 6-7 years of regular play and tournaments. Hard to make up that ground in 4 years-you can't double the hours without risking injuries or burnout. However if a player is athletic, disciplined, and passionate about the sports with the right coach, he/she can make great improvements. I have also seen players who were very smart, homeschooled for 6 years to train 5-6 hours a day for tennis, loved the game, had parents who could afford the best coaches, put in the work, and still couldn't quite get to the level to play at the schools they wanted to attend-not even as a walk-on. Some of those quit the sport-others played club. One became a hitting partner/volunteer coach for the women's team at his college.
TennisMan70
New User
Player is currently in 8th grade with about a 5.5 utr looking to play college tennis. Also, that’s amazing that a 16 yr old would be able to play in futures after starting so late.
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jcgatennismom
Hall of Fame
It's great he won a few ATP points but he was 4-15 in main draw at 15Ks with wins in tourneys in Cancun, Zimbabwe, and Central America with a few more wins in dubs. However, it is an accomplishment just to get in main draw of Futures, especially those in US or Europe. This player played some Futures main draws in Florida but didnt win any matches. I think he won his first Future main draw match at age 22.
Tell the player to concentrate as much on grades as on tennis. Grades/test scores are important for merit scholarship and also to just get in a college if a player is a walk on. The majority of tennis scholarship $ goes to the top of the lineup anyway. At some colleges the guys playing 5 and 6 are only getting books money.
Also realize he could repeat 8th grade as a homeschooler (or at private school-public school wont learn someone repeat a year who hasnt failed) to gain an extra year. Once he starts high school, he only has 4 years to finish though he could take a gap year afterwards. We know a player who took an extra year at 8th, and he now plays 6 for a Power 5 team-by taking an extra year that player finished HS one star higher-a 5 star vs a 4 star. If the player is already above grade in academics, it probably does not make sense but if the player is just at basic college prep level, taking harder courses in the repeated 8th grade, could set him up to be better prepared for AP courses, high level math, etc in high school.
PURETENNISsense
Professional
Very possible... depends on multiple factors:
1) Finances to train heavily for the next 4 years
2) Desire/Athletic Ability/Commitment from the player to improve and work on fitness
3) Current Stroke production (holes in the technique, coordiation, speed, etc)
4) Intangibles (Something people never talk about but highly important)
This is an interesting post but definitely not impossible to achieve. Can be done with anyone from the ages of 12-35 IMO.
1) Finances to train heavily for the next 4 years
2) Desire/Athletic Ability/Commitment from the player to improve and work on fitness
3) Current Stroke production (holes in the technique, coordiation, speed, etc)
4) Intangibles (Something people never talk about but highly important)
This is an interesting post but definitely not impossible to achieve. Can be done with anyone from the ages of 12-35 IMO.
onehandbh
G.O.A.T.
How about if you're 35 years old and currently a UTR 7. Is it possible to get to UTR 13 or 14? Would starting an TW thread, online blog, and youtube channel help?
J011yroger
Talk Tennis Guru
bobleenov1963
Hall of Fame
I am pretty sure if you take a 12 years old Jordan Spieth or Brooks Koepka and train them hard, they will go from UTR 0 to UTR 12+ in four years. Unfortunately, there aren't that many Jordan Spieth or Brooks Koepka around to begin with.
Liam Grennon
Professional
Compete compete compete. If that's in tournaments, high school tennis, JTT tennis, anything just the more matchplay you introduce early on the better. Mindset is also super important, I have a friend at the Academy I went too who started competing late (always played tennis with family but played soccer as her main sport), and I have watched her ranking explode this last year. I would say the secret to her success was just an incredibly good mindset!
onehandbh
G.O.A.T.
The question was not for me, but my standing vertical is currently a measly 23 inches.
As a matter of fact, there's only one Spieth and one Koepka.
It would have been a huge mistake to replace golf clubs with tennis racquets for Spieth or Koepka when they were 12 y.o.
bobleenov1963
Hall of Fame
The point is that if you put a tennis racquet into the hand of athletes like Speith or Koepka, they will excel from UTR 0 to UTR 12+ in four years, may be less.
Another great Aussie gofer, Adam Scott, 2013 Master champion, used to ace Anna Ivanevic when they played tennis back when they were together. I love Scott because he is sponsored by Uniqlo
S&V-not_dead_yet
Talk Tennis Guru
non-zero
Ihatetennis
Hall of Fame
It’s possible, you just need a good coach and to be an athlete.
I got a girl last year who was an average high school player. Utr 5.1, right now she’s playing competitive matches and sets with utr 8s.
she’s taking a gap year, I’ll post an update next June if anyone wants to ask me then, but I have no doubt she will be a 9 utr next summer. She’s been training 20-30 hours on court for a year and will do even more in the next year.
I got a girl last year who was an average high school player. Utr 5.1, right now she’s playing competitive matches and sets with utr 8s.
she’s taking a gap year, I’ll post an update next June if anyone wants to ask me then, but I have no doubt she will be a 9 utr next summer. She’s been training 20-30 hours on court for a year and will do even more in the next year.
23 actually isn't that bad for a full grown adult. Don't quote me on this but I think there's a study out their on non-jump related pro athletes and the average vert was only 28.
ChrisG
Professional
As long as you talk about your fav poly sky is the limit !
A kid? Sure, with work. A 30+ adult? No.
Having been through the junior development cycle a few times as a coach, progress up to UTR8 or so can happen fairly quickly. Once a player hits UTR9 or so, they have to be committed in training and play high-level tournaments to keep moving up, and that progress comes slower. One example: my son started playing consistently at 10 years old and was UTR8 by 12 years old. Took him to age 15 to reach UTR10 and another year to reach UTR11. Some will progress faster and some slower, but it gets harder for everyone once you are over a 9-10.
Having been through the junior development cycle a few times as a coach, progress up to UTR8 or so can happen fairly quickly. Once a player hits UTR9 or so, they have to be committed in training and play high-level tournaments to keep moving up, and that progress comes slower. One example: my son started playing consistently at 10 years old and was UTR8 by 12 years old. Took him to age 15 to reach UTR10 and another year to reach UTR11. Some will progress faster and some slower, but it gets harder for everyone once you are over a 9-10.
tennis2579
New User
smalahove
Hall of Fame
Imo, that’s too long of a time for an adult. I was thinking more along the lines of an adult reaching 5.0 after a year or less. Then you could perhaps have a shot a 10.5.
tennis2579
New User
I meant for a teenager
justinmadison
Semi-Pro
No one goes from 0 to 12+ in 4 years. name one example ever
Marcelo Rios.
jrtennisparent
New User
UTR didn't exist in 1986, when Rios started playing tennis???
jrtennisparent
New User
UTR didn't exist back then, but it does seem probable that he did something along those lines, given that he was playing professionally by 1994
Still, you can make a logical comparison.
Wawrinka is another who would qualify for this sort of progression if you consider how sparingly he played for years after starting.
serveandvolE
Rookie
I played one of my first UTR tournaments about 2.5 years ago. At the time I was close to a 6UTR and I played a young ~11/12 year old kid. I beat him pretty handily something like 0 and 1 but I knew this kid was going to be good with the types of strokes he had. Lo and behold I run into the same kid a few months ago in an UTR flex league match and he smears me 2 and 2. He is now a 9+ UTR and no doubt will be a 10 by next year. So to answer your question (and what others have already stated)- yes.
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