Postings

Posted on September 05, 2002 at 13:19:40:

Why is it that the COGP competitions - to iclude Arnie's tournament - that are USTA do not send in the (singles) results to a central USTA contact. Attempting to get a ranking would be a heck of a lot easier if the torunament directors reported scores for the players. Help.......

In Reply to: USTA Ranking posted by Horseman Will on September 05, 2002 at 13:19:40:

As of this year, tournament directors of USTA events were "required" to use the TMS software that ties into the tennisinformation.com site. The USTA has since backed off the requirement for the time being. Only tournaments that are "published" using the TMS software appear directly in the tennisinformation.com database. (All COGP/USTA sanctioned tournaments for 2002 were published in this way.) The other USTA tournaments will have to be typed in by hand at the USTA/Midwest office. As a result, there appears to be a substantial delay in recording the tournaments that are submitted to the USTA the old fashioned way (on paper). Here's another thing to be aware of, the tournament results are separate from the "Ranking" section of tennisinformation.com. In other words, tournaments published using TMS are automatically included in the tennisinformation database. However, in order for those results to appear in the "ranking" or "seeding" lists, someone with the USTA must collect those results from tennisinformation.com (along with the results sent to the USTA on paper) and then run their "ranking/seeding" program (the lists are then published to tennisinformation.com). With this in mind, a player search run under the "tournament" section of tennisinformation.com will likely show results that probably won't show up in a search under the "ranking" section. Tennisinformation.com only supplies the TMS software and offers the web site as a place to publish the data. They have no control over what happens at the USTA offices. Perhaps some e-mails to the USTA/Midwest office will light a fire over there.

Somebody please explain the NEW self rating to me - If I feel I am not properly rated can I rate myself to the proper level this year? I have heard that players may self rate for this fall - help me to understand Players that have fallen in battle to the 4.0 Horsemen are still playing 4.5 level - can they now be 4.0's? I would say - Yes....

In Reply to: usta league - self rate posted by Horseman Will on September 09, 2002 at 16:04:15:

The only people to rate themselves will be new entrants into the USTA Adult Leagues. Everyone that has been playing in the past 2 years will have a computer generated rating that will determine what level they can play at. For new people, after they play 3 matches against estblished USTA rated players, the computer will dtermine their rating by how they played against their recent opponents. This will be their new computer rating. Everyone else will be re-evaluated after every 5 to 10 matches (the exact number is secret) and receive a new updated rating. If you lose your team loses and you don't move on to further championship play. So it will be self defeating to "throw" matches to try and lower your rating.

To try and help everyone that has questions about the new DNTRP (Dynamic National Tennis Rating Program) I will relate what I have been told by a few of the directors and muckety-mucks at the USTA, that are supposed to be running this thing. First - only new players to the USTA League tennis world will "rate themselves". This is only a starting off point from which most people will either move up or down depending on how they play. After a new player completes three matches against players with established USTA computer ratings, the computer will re-evalute them and give them a new rating based upon their match results. Second - established players will continue with their computer generated ratings just as before. If you have played in a league during the last 2 years, and have played at least 2 matches, you will have a current rating. Every 5-10 matches the computer will recompute your rating depending on how you have done. Example: New player rates themselves as a 4.5 player and plays 3 matches. (Note - every break is worth .1 of a point) First match is against a player with an established 4.4 rating and newbie loses 6-4,6-4. For the first match the new player gets a 4.2 rating (4.4 rating of the established player minus .2 for the 2 breaks equals 4.2). Second match newbie plays an established player with 4.1 rating. Newbie wins 6-4, 7-5. Newbie rated 4.3 for this match (4.1 of established player plus .2 equals 4.3). Third match newbie rates out at 4.4. The three match ratings are added together and an average is taken (4.2 + 4.3 + 4.4 = 12.9, divided by three matches equals 4.3) New player now has computer generated 4.3 rating and becomes an established player. All established players will then be recomputed the same way after every 5-10 matches, except the beginning level will be their current, existing USTA rating.

In Reply to: usta league - self rate posted by Horseman Will on September 09, 2002 at 16:04:15:

I say it's about time we go to this format. And YES, it puts a lot of pressure back onto the new player entering the system. But, it also puts a lot of pressure on the player's coach and fellow team mates. If you're not certain of your level, ask your coach to rate you. If you have no coach, ask your prospective team members to do so. Have them keep in mind that if you were to be "bumped up" in the middle of the season, the team will suffer, so an accurate rating is necessary. If you have no team yet and just wish to self rate in hopes of joining a team, compare your match results against players that already hold a computer generated NTRP rating. This system is going to have some "bugs" at first but it will be a much better system. NTRP stands for NATIONAL Tennis Rating Program, with emphasis on NATIONAL. We all know that a 4.0 player from Texas can beat the DOO out of a 4.0 player from Mississippi! So much for the NATIONAL part of NTRP. This is due to the mixture of human assessment (former verficiation process) and computer based ratings. No way these two different factors will ever be consistent. Now the whole system will be based on computer save a few clerical errors of our beloved USTA officials!