Sport | Tennis |
---|---|
Abbreviation | (USTA) |
Founded | 1881 |
Affiliation date | International Tennis Federation (ITF) |
Location | White Plains, New York |
President | Katrina Adams |
Official website | |
www |
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The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, from the grass-roots to the professional levels. The association was created to standardize rules and regulations and to promote and develop the growth of tennis in the United States.
The USTA runs the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center which hosts the US Open every year.
The USTA has leagues in most places for adults skill levels between beginner and pro. The USTA also hosts tournaments across the country every weekend for club players or professionals.
The USTA has 17 geographical sections with more than 700,000 individual members and 7,000 organizational members, and a professional staff.
The USTA was previously known as the United States National Lawn Tennis Association (USNLTA) and was established in 1881 by a small group of tennis club members in New York City. In 1920 the word 'National' was dropped from the organization's name. In 1975, the word "Lawn" was officially dropped from the name.
The USTA uses National Tennis Rating Program (NTRP) ratings or more commonly NTRPs to rate the players based on skill level. The NTRPs range from the beginner 1.5 with .5 increments all the way up to 7.0 or world-class players. The NTRPs are used in the leagues for equal levels and tournaments. The most common NTRPs are 3.5 and 4.0. At the end of a calendar year, the USTA reveals online what rating everybody in the program is. Rating depends on how many matches you've won, what the score was, and if it was a singles or doubles match. If you are joining for the first year, a guide is given to you to self rate. All of the matches played in the spring season are taken into account of what ranking you are.
http://www.eastern.usta.com/For-Players/20016_USTA_Adult_Senior_Leagues__Ratings/
The USTA hosts adult tournaments in most cities with populations over 150,000 people. Leagues for adults with ratings ranging from 2.5 to 5.0 are organized in the Spring and/or Fall. In most areas, the adult seasons consist of singles, doubles, and mixed doubles leagues in the Spring. Fewer cities have Fall leagues for singles and/or alternate league types such as "combo", "mixed combo", or "tri-level".