Why is the USTA website so terrible!!

S

SGM1980

Rookie
So frustrating to navigate, but now it's like it's actively working against me!

It won't let me sign up for my spring leagues because my membership expires in 20 days, but it won't let me renew because it says I still have an active membership. THAT'S WHAT RENEWING IS YOU IDIOT! And the phone number they give me to call keeps me on hold for 15 minutes until I run out of time to wait around.

Not to mention the fact that the site is impossible to use on a non-Apple phone.

Sorry - but this is REALLY annoying me right now for some reason...
 
OnTheLine

OnTheLine

Hall of Fame
Man, I must be the only person with no issues regarding the site. I think it is a bit antiquated but always works fine for me.

When I was in your shoes with membership that expired before a league was completed (3 months in advance!) that was a bit of a pain. I finally found their email to me regarding renewing and clicked through on that link instead and it went fine.
 
S

SGM1980

Rookie
OnTheLine said:
Man, I must be the only person with no issues regarding the site. I think it is a bit antiquated but always works fine for me.

When I was in your shoes with membership that expired before a league was completed (3 months in advance!) that was a bit of a pain. I finally found their email to me regarding renewing and clicked through on that link instead and it went fine.
Click to expand...

You're a genius! I searched for a renewal notice in my email and did what you suggested and it worked.

But I still find the website a real pain in the ***!
 
K

kevrol

Hall of Fame
I used to think the website was horrible. Sadly now I guess I'm so used to it that it doesn't bother me.
 
J

J D

Semi-Pro
It is terrible. I used to teach website design for a living. I always used the USTA site for one of my examples of what not to do. It couldn't be more cluttered or harder to use.

I hate to be all negative but It looks like it was designed by a bunch of flying monkeys. IMO, we should get more for our money.
 
navigator

navigator

Hall of Fame
Agree, it's a horrible site. A complete pain in the @SS. Probably the worst site given the size of the organization that I've ever come across. And it has a very direct peer... the ITF. The ITF site is fantastic. Intuitive, well-organized, easy to use... basically very user friendly. Maybe the USTA should spend a small fraction of that hundreds of millions they spent on the Lake Nona performance center and design a decent website. Eh, probably won't happen.
 
Rattler

Rattler

Hall of Fame
SGM1980 said:
So frustrating to navigate, but now it's like it's actively working against me!

It won't let me sign up for my spring leagues because my membership expires in 20 days, but it won't let me renew because it says I still have an active membership. THAT'S WHAT RENEWING IS YOU IDIOT! And the phone number they give me to call keeps me on hold for 15 minutes until I run out of time to wait around.

Not to mention the fact that the site is impossible to use on a non-Apple phone.

Sorry - but this is REALLY annoying me right now for some reason...
Click to expand...

Well it boils down to the USTA not giving a rat’s @SS about it’s members...sad, but tue.
 
Cindysphinx

Cindysphinx

G.O.A.T.
The sad thing is that this version is an upgrade. Remember when you had to have the exact spelling of a name to find it?

My main gripe now is how it functions on an iPad. I have to put in my USTA number or search for my own name to get in. And I cannot see all of a player's records going back more than five years, even if I click "All Records."
 
OnTheLine

OnTheLine

Hall of Fame
Cindysphinx said:
The sad thing is that this version is an upgrade. Remember when you had to have the exact spelling of a name to find it?

My main gripe now is how it functions on an iPad. I have to put in my USTA number or search for my own name to get in. And I cannot see all of a player's records going back more than five years, even if I click "All Records."
Click to expand...

Too funny. It is sad that the iPhone app works better than the desktop version in some aspects!
 
OrangePower

OrangePower

Legend
As usual, we in Northern California are well ahead of the rest of the country! :D

NorCal has it's own version of tennislink which is far far better. All the NorCal team and match data does also appear in tennislink, but we don't ever need to go there - everything is entered and can be viewed via the NorCal system. In addition to doing what tennislink does but better, it also has tools and features not found in tennislink at all.
 
B

brettatk

Semi-Pro
I'm annoyed they removed the ability to find someone's email/phone number by pretending to add them to a team. I'm surprised they let it go as long as it did though.
 
schmke

schmke

Legend
OrangePower said:
As usual, we in Northern California are well ahead of the rest of the country! :D

NorCal has it's own version of tennislink which is far far better. All the NorCal team and match data does also appear in tennislink, but we don't ever need to go there - everything is entered and can be viewed via the NorCal system. In addition to doing what tennislink does but better, it also has tools and features not found in tennislink at all.
Click to expand...
It is functional like you describe, but I wouldn't exactly say it is modern looking for anything like that :O
 
N

NLBwell

Legend
The USTA website and the NASA website are the two worst websites I have ever had to deal with.
The USTA website seems to be intentionally misleading, is horribly user unfriendly, and sometimes it just cannot do things it is supposed to do.
The NASA website is fine if you want to look at pretty pictures, but if you are trying to actually get work done and find pertinent documents, it can be almost impossible to work with much of the time.
 
S&V-not_dead_yet

S&V-not_dead_yet

Talk Tennis Guru
NLBwell said:
The USTA website and the NASA website are the two worst websites I have ever had to deal with.
The USTA website seems to be intentionally misleading, is horribly user unfriendly, and sometimes it just cannot do things it is supposed to do.
The NASA website is fine if you want to look at pretty pictures, but if you are trying to actually get work done and find pertinent documents, it can be almost impossible to work with much of the time.
Click to expand...

What are some examples?

Looking up my leagues and individual players is easy enough.

I like the tournament lookup function and how the results can be sorted by distance as well as date.

Use of wildcards in searches would be nice.

Maybe I think the web site is fine because I don't use it that much.
 
S

Startzel

Hall of Fame
S&V-not_dead_yet said:
What are some examples?

Looking up my leagues and individual players is easy enough.

I like the tournament lookup function and how the results can be sorted by distance as well as date.

Use of wildcards in searches would be nice.

Maybe I think the web site is fine because I don't use it that much.
Click to expand...

I honestly don’t understand what is hard to navigate about it. All I have to do is search a name to find a player and all his matches.

If I’m looking for specific leagues I just have a few drop downs to click. It’s rather easy.
 
S&V-not_dead_yet

S&V-not_dead_yet

Talk Tennis Guru
Startzel said:
I honestly don’t understand what is hard to navigate about it. All I have to do is search a name to find a player and all his matches.

If I’m looking for specific leagues I just have a few drop downs to click. It’s rather easy.
Click to expand...

Lack of wildcards is the biggest flaw, IMO. Sometimes I don't know the exact spelling of the last name and maybe I don't even know the first name. I have to then pop over to TLS or TR to find the name.
 
mikeler

mikeler

Moderator
It’s gotten better over the years but there a number of minor annoyances I have with the website. The app has a different set of annoyances.
 
TennisDawg

TennisDawg

Hall of Fame
You can always read the Tennis magazine and learn how to hit a forehand like Nick Kyrgios. I wasted money signing back up for USTA this year. In my location, they haven't even bothered to post adult tournaments. There are plenty of informal/unsanctioned leagues and tournaments to play, so forget USTA. They just want the money.
 
K

kevrol

Hall of Fame
Here are a few pet peeves that shouldn't be that hard to fix:
  • Can't open a hyperlink to a player, team or match in a new window/tab
  • The team management tool is completely worthless
  • Trying to find results of a tournament is difficult at best if you don't have the tournament number
  • Clicking on 'League Advanced Search' brings up the search window defaulted to 'Search for Players'
  • If you select to follow a team you are not on it uses the cookies on your pc (If you delete cookies or use another computer the teams you are following aren't there.)
  • You should be able to fill out a lineup card online and print it out without having to export to excel.
I'm sure there are more. I'll try and update this list with my thoughts when I stumble across them.
 
W

winchestervatennis

Hall of Fame
OrangePower said:
As usual, we in Northern California are well ahead of the rest of the country! :D

NorCal has it's own version of tennislink which is far far better. All the NorCal team and match data does also appear in tennislink, but we don't ever need to go there - everything is entered and can be viewed via the NorCal system. In addition to doing what tennislink does but better, it also has tools and features not found in tennislink at all.
Click to expand...
Tough to see a computer/ipad/iphone screen looking that far down your nose
 
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