Clear Brook Tennis

 

Everyone that plays tennis should get a UTR, or Universal Tennis Rating.  The UTR has been the ranking system that has been sweeping the tennis world.  While the Texas section of the USTA still has their system in place with Challengers, Champs, and Super Champs, they are piggy backing off of the UTR system now.

The UTR has even been rumored to be used on the pro tour:

On Monday morning, Rafael Nadal replaced Roger Federer as the top-ranked player in men’s tennis. This, despite the fact that Nadal hasn’t played a match since mid-January. An ordinary sports fan couldn’t be blamed for feeling baffled.

Is there a better, more relevant ranking system out there?

Perhaps. The Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) system is already taking junior and college tennis by storm. It rates players on a scale ranging from 1 (raw beginner) to 16.5 (Federer pulls a 16.21). The pro ratings generated by UTR are fascinating — different enough to be significant, but not so different that this becomes an apples and oranges comparison to the current system.

So what is UTR?

The UTR gives plays a rating from 1-16.5.  That rating is based on three factors: competition, scores, and recent history.

So what does that mean?

The system uses the players last 30 matches and looks at the score, the level of the opponent, and their opponents.  This system has created a system that makes it easy for boys and girls to compete with players of the same level.

High schools are starting to use this information for creations of ladders and seedings at tournaments.  Colleges are using the information for the same thing, but they are also looking at scores of recruits.

So how do you get a score?

To start with a UTR, sign up for an account at myutr.com

From there you can look for events using the menu, or clicking here.  You can also sign up for any USTA sanctioned tournament here.

Having an account doesn’t mean that you are done.  Signing up for tournaments and playing as much as you can will help your UTR.  In fall team tennis matches, will also begin to count towards your UTR score.

The more information you have the better.

Why does this matter to Clear Brook?

Start with try-outs in August, we will be using UTR to set up our try-out pods.  We will also be using UTR to help us establish the ranking for the team.  Students with higher scores, will more likely be ranked higher to start with.

It is the expectation of the coaches that all the players will get a UTR and attempt to increase your number as much as possible all year round.

Besides, if it’s good enough for the pros and college to use, we can too.