USTA Vs. UTR?

[GrilledBurgers]

New to the adult leagues and tournaments. This is confusing me as I am unsure to get a UTR membership or USTA membership. I see USTA leagues, but I don't see any tournaments?

Edit: I am a 4.0-4.5 NTRP

 

[TagUrIt]

It has a LOT to do with where you live. USTA leagues are more prevelant than tournaments. UTR seems to have more tournaments than leagues (at least in my area) DC/MD/VA. Which one to join depends on what kind of tennis your looking to play. Honestly you can join UTR for free, you just won't have all the bells and whistles of the paid membership. USTA requires membership in order to play in the leagues. If you just want to play tennis for fun, join a meetup in your area. Most of those are free.

 

[schmke]

USTA also recently changed sites for tournaments. You will no longer (for the most part, long story seen in another thread) see them on TennisLink, but instead need to go to https://playtennis.usta.com/tournaments

UTR generally doesn't (or hasn't) had leagues and is focused on tournaments, but UTR will use your USTA League matches in calculating your UTR.

 

[OnTheLine]

Agree with above. Some areas have ZERO opportunities for adults in UTR tournaments. It also has to do with your playing level, UTR tournaments are often only for levels 6+ and most adults are under that.

But it is not an either/or decision.
For UTR buying their membership is unnecessary for 99% of adult players. It doesn't get you anything other than more precise info on your opponents and more playing stats.
USTA membership is cheap, gets you the quarterly magazine and often a hat and access to enter leagues and tournaments.

All depends on what kind of competition you want to have ...

 

[5sets]

Agree with above. Some areas have ZERO opportunities for adults in UTR tournaments. It also has to do with your playing level, UTR tournaments are often only for levels 6+ and most adults are under that.

But it is not an either/or decision.
For UTR buying their membership is unnecessary for 99% of adult players. It doesn't get you anything other than more precise info on your opponents and more playing stats.
USTA membership is cheap, gets you the quarterly magazine and often a hat and access to enter leagues and tournaments.

All depends on what kind of competition you want to have ...

Lol @ “a hat”. They’ve really sold you.

 

[5sets]

Anyways I always join USTA as mentioned it gets you access to play their leagues and tournaments and as other posters have said you don’t have to pay anything to join UTR, in fact if you’ve ever played any kind of competitive tennis you may already me in their library you just have to “claim” your profile. It’s pay for play, meaning you see a tournament you like you just pay for that event and they are often half the price of USTA tournaments, at least in this neck of the woods. But yeah, just pay the $35 to USTA and play both USTA and UTR if you want some competitive matches. Keep in mind you’ll cross paths with all kind of characters, as these events some times bring out the worst in people. If you prefer social recreational tennis you’ll be fine without joining.

 

[5sets]

Oh I think it’s $44 not $35. Anyways it is what it is.

 

[heninfan99]

USTA also recently changed sites for tournaments. You will no longer (for the most part, long story seen in another thread) see them on TennisLink, but instead need to go to https://playtennis.usta.com/tournaments

UTR generally doesn't (or hasn't) had leagues and is focused on tournaments, but UTR will use your USTA League matches in calculating your UTR.

That's kind of creepy, like some religion baptizing people on the down low after they pass away.

 

[5sets]

That's kind of creepy, like some religion baptizing people on the down low after they pass away.

Haha! Yes that’s always seemed a little weird to me. Like they would need our consent to use our match results. Kind of like going through an old telephone book and creating ballots for dead people