Questions about NTRP strikes and benchmark players

[mikeler]

I thought it used to be that if you beat a Benchmark player, that was an automatic strike for "S" or "A" rated players. Is that still the case?

a) If yes, what happens in doubles where an "S" or "A" player on 1 team beats just 1 player that is a Benchmark on the other team but the other player is not a Benchmark?

b) If yes, is a Benchmark player still "B" rated even if their last year playing they were a Benchmark but then they sit out an extra year or two (not long enough to becomes an "S" rated player again)? I thought the "B" rating only lasted a year but I see some players that last played in 2012 and the USTA website says they are still "B" rated.

 

[badkitty]

I don't winning or losing against a benchmark has any special impact towards your dynamic rating. A benchmark player is just someone who has a computer rating and has played against players in other regions in play-offs. Benchmark ratings are used to help ensure that the NTRP ratings are about the same across the country. I don't even know why the USTA publishes benchmark ratings since they seem to be used only for internal purposes for normalizing ratings across regions.

A strike is when your dynamic rating is above a certain level. So if your dynamic rating is above a certain level for 3 matches then you get DQ-ed.

Here's a link to more info about ratings and strikes.
http://www.usta.com/Adult-Tennis/USTA-League/frequently_asked_questions/#4382

 

[schmke]

I thought it used to be that if you beat a Benchmark player, that was an automatic strike for "S" or "A" rated players. Is that still the case?

a) If yes, what happens in doubles where an "S" or "A" player on 1 team beats just 1 player that is a Benchmark on the other team but the other player is not a Benchmark?

b) If yes, is a Benchmark player still "B" rated even if their last year playing they were a Benchmark but then they sit out an extra year or two (not long enough to becomes an "S" rated player again)? I thought the "B" rating only lasted a year but I see some players that last played in 2012 and the USTA website says they are still "B" rated.

I don't know if it used to be at some point, but to my knowledge, for the past several years at least, there are no automatic strikes for simply beating a "B" or any other player. As badkitty said, a strike is when your dynamic rating exceeds the strike threshold for the level you are at. See questions/answers 16 thru 18 on my FAQ for a bit more info. http://computerratings.blogspot.com/p/usta-ntrp-faq.html

If you think about it, it would actually be pretty silly to have such a rule. For example, say that a 4.0 goes to playoffs and does well enough to be barely bumped up to 4.5. Say his dynamic rating when you play him is 4.05. You proceed to beat him 7-6,7-6 as a self-rated 4.5. A match rating for this match is certainly in the lower part of the range for a 4.5 and no where close to a strike threshold, so it wouldn't make sense to get any kind of automatic strike for beating this player.

 

[mikeler]

Thanks for the answers. The reason I asked is that we had a player on a local league a few years ago beat 3 of our guys who were all benchmarks from going to Sectionals the year before so all 3 of our guys were "B" rated. He got immediately DQ'd after his 3rd win but that makes sense because all 3 of our guys were probably highly rated.

 

[GatorTennis]

Benchmarks is likely published because those players are not eligible to appeal their rating.

 

[schmke]

Benchmarks is likely published because those players are not eligible to appeal their rating.

The "B" is no longer published by the USTA starting with 2014 year-end ratings. But the same benchmarking process is still done and players that are the non-published "B" still have the same restrictions regarding appeals.

See Q13 on my FAQ (http://computerratings.blogspot.com/p/usta-ntrp-faq.html)