AlpineCadet
Hall of Fame
I'm a USTA 4.0 player, played a USTA 4.5 tournament and went down in flames 1 and 0~. This year, I've joined a 4.0 Doubles/Singles league and am ready for the competition. But thus far, I've encountered two separate sandbaggers on different teams playing in our league AND our season hasn't even started.
The first sandbagger: Coincidentally, I was randomly challenged by a player on a tennis ladder that I joined years ago. Two weeks ago he emails me that he is a 4.5 player and wants to challenge me for my ranking/spot on the ladder. I asked him if he is a self/or USTA rated 4.5 and he just tells me that he's a 4.5. I did some googling and looked up his name and found out that he's playing against my team this season as a 4.0! When I emailed him asking about that on the same day our ladder match was supposed to happen, he did a no-show for our ladder match and stopped responding to all my emails. :shock:
The second sandbagger: I just got an email with our team's league schedule/locations and clicked on the first team we're playing against to see if I recognized any names. Coincidentally, one of the names is of an instructor who plays 4.5/Open tournaments. I know him personally and know that he is no where near 4.0 level! He has an all-court game and has been playing for over 30 years!
Anyway, so far, my impression of the USTA 4.0 League in SoCal is that if I continue to click away on team names and do some google searches on players, I'll find even more sandbaggers in our league this year. Sad, but I guess there are going to be a lot of petitions going around once league starts and the true 4.0's get pissed.
The first sandbagger: Coincidentally, I was randomly challenged by a player on a tennis ladder that I joined years ago. Two weeks ago he emails me that he is a 4.5 player and wants to challenge me for my ranking/spot on the ladder. I asked him if he is a self/or USTA rated 4.5 and he just tells me that he's a 4.5. I did some googling and looked up his name and found out that he's playing against my team this season as a 4.0! When I emailed him asking about that on the same day our ladder match was supposed to happen, he did a no-show for our ladder match and stopped responding to all my emails. :shock:
The second sandbagger: I just got an email with our team's league schedule/locations and clicked on the first team we're playing against to see if I recognized any names. Coincidentally, one of the names is of an instructor who plays 4.5/Open tournaments. I know him personally and know that he is no where near 4.0 level! He has an all-court game and has been playing for over 30 years!
Anyway, so far, my impression of the USTA 4.0 League in SoCal is that if I continue to click away on team names and do some google searches on players, I'll find even more sandbaggers in our league this year. Sad, but I guess there are going to be a lot of petitions going around once league starts and the true 4.0's get pissed.
