I'm in my 2nd year of USTA league play at the 2.5 level, and had a match against an extremely strong self-rated player. I asked where she had played to get so good, and she kind of looked anxious at this question. She said she had just played pick-up games, which I found pretty hard to believe. Google shows she played varsity high school tennis, and she is less than 28 years old. This puts her at a minimum 3.0, our local USTA office confirmed this. I brought the situation to the attention of my team captain, and asked her to file a grievance, I've had several matches against folks who appear to be playing down, and it's frustrating as I want to play against folks at my own level.
I was pretty surprised at my captain's reaction. She said she had checked with some "seasoned USTA professionals", and their collective opinion was that nobody wins from filing a grievance. She thought that I should just move on. This USTA professional apparently said something like, "well, maybe it was a small school and the team wasn't that good."
I was outraged. To get a 2.5 rating, my opponent had to have lied on her self-rate questionnaire, as she did not have an adjusted rating. I was pretty shocked that a USTA pro would not have supported the notion of filing a grievance. If the person's high school team wasn't that good, they should have followed the process and gotten an adjustment. I believe I have every right to ask for a grievance.
What do other folks think? I am wondering what I am missing. Is there really that much ill will created by filing a grievance? I myself am considering the ill will created by dishonesty in self-rating, and the fact that we pay to be in USTA leagues and thus should have some reasonable expectation the the USTA pros support enforcing their own rules.
FYI, I ended up reaching out the the section coordinator, who is going to look into this and is willing to file a grievance if warranted. I hated having to go to that extreme, as I disliked going over my captain's head. However, it's getting to the point where the matches are not any fun, as I feel like I'm in a 3.0 league. If there was an option for me to play down, I would, but 2.5 is as low as it goes.
I was pretty surprised at my captain's reaction. She said she had checked with some "seasoned USTA professionals", and their collective opinion was that nobody wins from filing a grievance. She thought that I should just move on. This USTA professional apparently said something like, "well, maybe it was a small school and the team wasn't that good."
I was outraged. To get a 2.5 rating, my opponent had to have lied on her self-rate questionnaire, as she did not have an adjusted rating. I was pretty shocked that a USTA pro would not have supported the notion of filing a grievance. If the person's high school team wasn't that good, they should have followed the process and gotten an adjustment. I believe I have every right to ask for a grievance.
What do other folks think? I am wondering what I am missing. Is there really that much ill will created by filing a grievance? I myself am considering the ill will created by dishonesty in self-rating, and the fact that we pay to be in USTA leagues and thus should have some reasonable expectation the the USTA pros support enforcing their own rules.
FYI, I ended up reaching out the the section coordinator, who is going to look into this and is willing to file a grievance if warranted. I hated having to go to that extreme, as I disliked going over my captain's head. However, it's getting to the point where the matches are not any fun, as I feel like I'm in a 3.0 league. If there was an option for me to play down, I would, but 2.5 is as low as it goes.