Start tourneys

I'm probably a 3.5 player on a average day, but haven't gotten officially rated by a pro. I was just wondering when i should start possibly joining USTA and entering some tourneys or whatever, or do they do it by skill level? I'm pretty new to tennis so I just want to know when i should start being mroe competitive than the anual tennis season at school
 

Ken

Rookie
A lot of them do it by skill level. Start now, the experience is great.

Find some satellite tournaments. There's a lot of people your skill level, there. Also, there are a lot of leagues for different NTRP ratings. Those are fun, too.
 

goober

Legend
Yeah just start now. NTRP tourneys having ratings from 3.0 to open so just go join up at 3.5 and move up when you are easily winning (or sooner if you want more of a challenge). Since you are also junior you can play the satellite tourneys as well. I have no idea how those work since I am way too old. There are probably more junior satellite tourneys around my area than NTRP tourneys. The only ones you probably should avoid are the strict open tourneys cuz you will get smoked.
 
not sure about the satellite tournies, but about the thread, I took about a year and a half off of tennis, and started hitting a little bit with a friend earlier this month, and decided to try and play in a tournament, even though its been so long since ive played a match. Well it was horrible. I have never played so tentatively in my life, I know I have the talent to dominate 4.5's and possible well into 5.0's, but i could not muster up the courage to go for a shot, it was like I was a freshman in high school again, it was strange. Even though it was a very ugly weekend, after I lost my first match, I won the consolation bracket, but I still played bad. Just get into the tournies man, practice makes perfect.
 
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