Why?USTA Southern has just changed their USTA Southern League Rules

Not a bad idea.

 

lol. you're talking about trent broach, i assume. i and my cocaptain complained vigorously about him to Tosha Smith at USTA Texas (after THEY had disqualified one of our players, who was clearly inferior to Broach) but was told he was totally legitimate.

 

bingo, he obviously lied on his player profile in 2005 when he first signed-up. Pretty sad on Texas Section to not clamp down on such an obvious act to decieve the system.

 

I didn't see this when you first responded, but I'll answer now.

- because I have worked hard to improve my game and I want my rating to reflect that
- because I am as good as or better than a great number of 4.0 players I regularly play against
- because I tired of being hassled by 3.5 opponents about how I have no business playing 3.5
- because I want a better excuse than "I'm too busy" to play on fewer 3.5 teams
- because a 4.0 player is more desirable to have on a 4.0 team than a 3.5 player (duh!)
- because my goal is to eventually be a 4.5 player, and you kind of have to be a 4.0 player first

How many more reasons do you need?

 

About the tanking thing - any chance this is a regional or gender phenomenon? The women I play with would rather chew their arm off than tank a match.

 

I think part of it is completely outside of the realm of "drive to improve their game".

In Florida at least, 4.0 is the sweet spot if you want lots of competition. Typically the 4.0 level will have the most teams in league play, and the largest draws in tournament play. Notice that the players (like me) below 4.0 want to move up and the players above either want to stay put or move down?

As for the tournament situation, personally I think it's a bad move. I played three NTRP tournaments last year and was planning on playing five this year. Winning matches and moving up was a big part of my motivation to play. Ranking means nothing.