Junior Rankings - Grade events

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Junior Rankings - Grade events

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

DavidC and others can give you a full run-down Bob but here's a couple of pointers.

You've actually got two different sections to your post.

The lad who said 2.2 is actually referring to his GB national rating - it's basically an adult LTA rating (all out players have one, ask one of the lads next time you see them) but there's a slightly different calculation for juniors (you need more 'counting' matches). The LTA site says:

"For junior and adult players there are 20 rating bands, starting with 10.2, which is the lowest, progressing to 10.1, 9.2, 9.1, 8.2 etc. until you reach 1.1, which is the highest rating."

So 2.2 is the fourth best category i.e. 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, then 2.2

The LTA also has a ranking system, for adults and each age group, which is what he means when talking about being GB No. 12 in U14. This is not just the 'best rated' (which would make sense) but a completely different system.

Other people understand this system really well so I'll leave it to them (never made sense to me ....) but the site is:

www.lta.org.uk/competitions/player-ratings-rankings/british-tennis-ratings/

www.lta.org.uk/competitions/player-ratings-rankings/british-tennis-rankings/

However, the ITF Junior system is quite straight-forward. There are Graded tournaments which go from Grade 5 (the 'easiest') to Grade A (Junior Grand Slams). There's a point system for each (just like 10k, 15k, 25k etc). The points are as follows:

Singles Points

ITF Grade               A     1     2    3 4    5

Winner               250 150   100   60 40 30
Runner-up            180 100   75     45 30 20
Semi-Finalist         120   80    50     30 20 15
Quarter-Finalist      80    60    30     20 15 10
Losers in last 16    50    30     20    15 10   5
Losers in last 32    30    20     10

You also get points for the doubles, see site below for table, with 25% of those points counting towards your points total as singles and doubles points are combined for kids to give them a combined ranking.

www.itftennis.com/juniors/rankings/ranking-points.aspx

Winning a Grade 3 is very good (although not as good, of course, as winning a Grade 2), The table above gives an 'equivalence', if you like.

The ITF Graded events are open to all juniors but there is also a completely separate Tennis Europe system for U16, U14 and U12 events which acts as a sort of stepping stone to get up to ITF junior events.

My own take, especially as a non-LTA person, is to ignore the LTA system (its claims of equivalence, say, to the French system are miles off and completely wrong) and just to focus on the ITF ranking of a junior. For the older junior, this is perfect. For the U14, say, it's true that they might not have played many ITFs and the LTA one will be better.

Hope that helps. As said, others will fill in the numerous gaps !

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Saturday 9th of July 2016 07:52:37 AM

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Brilliant. Thank you CD. I have been hunting around on the LTA site etc and found both players. The 2nd of the two players I mentioned actually won the La Manga Club Cup U'18's last week and according to the LTA site that gave him 650 points. I assume from your explanation therefore that this would be points for his National Ranking other than his ITF ranking. Although from the links you have sent me, it still doesn't work out completely.

It was a Grade 3 event which has 250 points for the winner and the "Age Group Multiplier" was 2.4 which then makes 600 points. So not sure where the 650 comes from.

Anyway, please don't spend any more time that you have already. At least I know now that Grade 1 is better then Grade 5 (and not the other way around) and that 1.1 is top and that I am a 10.2 smile

As a matter of interest, this young lad wants to go down the American College route. It seems to be coming a more popular idea year on year.

DavidC · Tennis legend

Thanks Bob for the idea of a sticky thread with details of rankings and event grades (done), and CD for the helpful input towards this. Like CD I have not bothered much with the detail of the LTA's rankings and ratings system, as my focus is more on international Junior competition. The tables the LTA use for ranking points appear to be those with links on the right hand side of the page CD highlights, which gives 650 points for under 18 Grade 3 winners, 304 for under 16 Grade 3 runner-up and 760 for Open Grade 3 doubles runner-up (all applicable to the player you mention, as he entered all of these events) .

Regarding ITF ranking points/events if you click on the link CD provides it also shows bonus points for Grand Slams and strong Grade As along with the points structure for Regional Championships (the European is a grade B1 held every July).

Tennis Europe (TE) offers Category 1, 2 and 3 events with Category 1 the strongest (including European Championships in July and Masters in October - for the European Championship finalists plus the top 6 European ranked players at under 14 and under 16 levels ). Individual rankings are formed by your best 6 singles events plus best 2 doubles and best team event (Winter or Summer Cup). Under 16 TE rankings also include an allowance for junior ITF rankings, and include non European players (who are ineligible for the Masters). For more detail it is best to study Appendix B of the Rules and Regulations, which can be found at www.tenniseurope.org/page.aspx

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Thanks David. Got it now re the points. He told me that the retirement from the U'16 final and withdrawal from the doubles was down to a hamstring problem, but he was recovered enough to play in an exhibition match yesterday, so nothing too serious fortunately.

emma · Strong Club Player

deleted

-- Edited by emma on Sunday 2nd of October 2016 02:03:10 AM

bunniesonthelawn · Newbie

Re: LTA ratings & rankings:

Always read the UTR (universal tennis ratings) label.
Never take a LTA rating or ranking at face value, always look up the player's UTR to understand their actual playing standard.

You will find a fair number of UTR 10&up female players in the UK with almost no LTA ranking points and a rating of between 5.1 and 7.2 having to play both qualifying & main draw matches but had entry & seeding taken account of UTR the player would have been seeded in the main draw of British Tour events .

Likewise in Junior ITF you get players with a UTR of a low 6 in the main draw of a junior ITF who, had entry & seeding taken account of UTR, would have been way down the reserve list whilst UTR 10 players whose wealth (or lack of it) hasn't facilitated cherry picking soft ITF junior tournaments globally have zero ITF points and barely make the qualifying acceptance list.

The LTA & Junior ITF systems are both exploited by players (and tennis parents) in a sophisticated game of chasing cheap points & cheap wins (for ratings) which does a disservice to the game and sustains a wealth advantage.

All systems have their flaws of course but UTR seems to be pretty reliable.