Just curious, Im not to experienced playing usta hosted tournaments. What is the proper tournament level/league for a 19 year old player roughly 4.5-5.0 in ability?
play mens 4.5 and 5.0 tournies or play mens opens where there is no prize money. non prize money mens opens are not to strong and you should be able to do ok in them.
No. Those are Senior tournaments... meaning for old people. What you want is an Open tournament, because NTRP tournaments only go up to 4.0 or so.
NTRP tournaments go up past 4.0. If you are at a 4.5 or 5.0, then play either 4.5 or 5.0 tournaments. Make sure there's no prize money involved, or you could hurt your college chances.
From his question, I doubt he's considering for his/a college team. If he were at that level, he wouldn't have to ask about where to play.
Theoretically yes...but good luck actually finding a 5.0 NTRP tournament. That's about as easy as finding a 5.5+ NTRP league. Generally anyone who's a legit tournament 4.0 (which arguably is not the same thing as a league 4.0, and DEFINITELY not the same thing as a 'self rate' 4.0) is probably going to be playing in Open tournaments...sooner or later. What frustrates me is that 90% of the local tournaments are all junior tournaments! This is great for Junior players but I didn't start playing until I was 21...
Well, it is quite possible he could be playing for D2 or D3 junior college or something where 4.5 or 5.0 is definitely the range of the players. Especially in certain regions of the country. The rules are the same.
What goes in tennis-wise in California and Florida doesn't necessarily apply to the rest of the US...
Even to play D2 or D3 tournaments you normally need to have some tournament experience. From doing research on what tournaments to play, he should run across the other tournaments out there.
See, that's where you're wrong, I dont have much tournament experience at all. All tournaments i have played have been privately hosted through tennis clubs. I've played many tournament players. Many of which were ranked as high as top 10 in New England. I'm not overestimating myself and I don't need you to tell me that i am. I just wanted some quick reference, instead of doing the research i thought asking here would save me some time.
Some one was telling me, and I'm not sure if I agree or not, that the people that normally win tournaments are 1.0 point higher than the level they play at. For example, to win at 3.5 you need to be 4.5. Agree?
Look for "open" tournaments in your area- ones with no age or NTRP limit. You'll find a lot of other high level players just out of college who aren't eligible for the senior (35+) tournaments.
Even in Central Florida, the 5.0 tournaments can be pretty sparse with usually 2 to 8 players enrolled.
I think a certain amount of sandbagging goes on in every tournament, and the people who play at the actual level they think the tournament is supposed to be probably get thrashed in the first round.
Look, I never said u were over estimating yourself. And, I did say normally, and should. And, I never said u would have tons of experience. However, if u know of this site, u should know of the USTA site. Also, since u've played many ranked tournament players, your words, u never asked any of them what tournaments they've played, etc etc etc???? U never asked any of them the questions ur asking here???? Lastly, I answered ur question. I said a 4.5 tournament sounds right for your level.
I don't know enough to generalize, but here in Norcal I don't think that's true. For example, there are 2 players that play in my USTA 4.0 league who also play tournaments and between them have won most of the 4.0 tournaments in the area. Their results in league play are good but not great (around .700 combined).
of course i knew they were playing usta tennis. I was well aware of b16s and b18s and tournament levels 3-7. what i was unsure of was competitive tennis after juniors. Again, i was just looking for quick reference
I don't see much sandbagging in the Central Florida NTRP tournaments. I see many more people try to play up a level. Most of the matches at every level are very competitive.
^^^ya florida has a very nice tennis atmosphere.. here in ca, i've heard stories where some team actually cheat believe it or not.. not sandbagging, but ringers who aren't even on the roster.. this guy i hit with told me about what happened a couple weeks ago where they were playing against some team that had some person not officially on their roster and was in the lineup for the tourney.. my buddy won, but still.. it's not right
