If only there was another way...

Check this video out.  I find this very funny!  "You could learn to play left handed like Rafa...vamos Rafa".  That's good stuff!   (I had some trouble in Chrome, but it opened fine in the other browsers that I tried.) 

Let me first say that I am not completely opposed to USTA and the NTRP rating system.  I play USTA, but I don't get the fanatical loyalty to USTA.  Some think of rating systems that are different from NTRP as heresy and they begin to gather their stakes and kindling.  Let's take a look at this.

The Tencap ratings used by Big Fish Tennis go from 0-80.  There are 80 individual playing levels there which make these ratings far more specific than the NTRP rating scale witch goes from 1.0 to 7.0 (only 13 individual playing levels).  However, there really aren't any leagues for players that would be classified as 1.0 or 1.5.  You just don't see those ratings as they aren't considered competition level.  It is quite obvious that there is a problem with the NTRP system as there are 4.0 low and 4.5 low levels that are being used.  Here's something a little odd.  A buddy of mine that beats me in a set 63, on average, is eligible for 4.0 low.  I am not.  Well now, that makes clear and perfect sense. I have an NTRP rating of 4.0.  There are players in this area with USTA ratings of 4.0 that regularly beat me like a drum.  I don't get it.  We are both 4.0 players, why do I lose so many sets to them 62 or worse?  So...we're the same, but different. That's not good, but it gets worse.  There are players rated as 4.0 by USTA that I can beat similarly.  So, there's such a range of 4.0 players that I could lose 61, 61 or win 61, 61.  There is a problem there.

Tencap ratings are dynamic!  This means that you won't have the problem that you saw in the video.  Your current tennis ability is the level at which you will compete.  Tencap ratings don't care if you used to be a professional tennis player.  That may have been 20 years ago.  Tencap ratings do care if you haven't played tennis in the last 10 years and are just getting back into the game.  Tencap ratings do care if you have a nagging knee injury that keeps you from playing at your former level.  Tencap ratings only care about your current tennis ability level.  That's it.  It doesn't matter if you are male, female or 10 years old.  Your ability level is all that matters (in terms of your rating; there is more to life than this, however).  Your rating locks in after every 8 sets that you put into the system, so you are getting very regular feedback about your level.  If you play 40 sets of tennis in a year, your will get 5 rating updates during the year.  Tencap ratings are like a road map of game development with signs along the way that show you where you are and how far you are from your destination.  NTRP ratings are kept in the magical computer behind the curtain and you aren't allowed to know your rating but once per year.  That's as often as Christmas, and it is kind of like Christmas to go onto the website and type in your name and see if you have a new rating.  Sometimes there's the disappointment of getting a present you don't like (whether you have now played yourself out of playing on a local team or if your rating dropped).  Most of the time, though, it is a build up to nothing as your rating stays the exact same (unless you've had an amputation).  This provides little feedback as it says that you are the same as you've been.  It's just too broad. 

All of that supposes that players have an NTRP rating at all.  Only players that play USTA leagues have NTRP ratings.  I think we could all come up with quite a few examples of people we know that are tennis players that do not play USTA tennis.  I played adult recreation leagues for about 10 years before joining USTA and getting a rating.  Junior players don't get NTRP ratings.  If they choose to play USTA tournaments (a very large percentage of junior players do not play tournaments), they compete on the basis of their age and not ability.  Junior players really stand to gain a lot from playing Big Fish Tennis and using Tencap ratings. 

One last thing.  The self rating system used for an NTRP rating is shaky at best.  When you read those descriptions of the tools that a player has at the various levels, it is so hard to get an accurate read.  In the video the player is asked, "So, can you hit a slice ball...you know, the old slicer?  5.5.  Can you hit one of those serves with top spin?  5.5".  Big Fish Tennis has developed a very accurate assessment tool that is composed of only 7 quick, objective questions.  We have tested this on many different players (juniors and adults) and it almost always arrived at a rating that was within about 3 of their actual rating.  This is very accurate for a self rating tool!  Then, of course, that rating will fine tune before your eyes as you play Big Fish league matches and your casual matches. 

Thanks, Fish!  Happy New Year!