New ITF Seniors Tournament Grades to Launch in 2021
Tournament Structure, Grading Criteria and Rankings Descriptions
ITF Seniors Development Plan 2019-2021
The ITF Press Release regarding the new tournament grades reads in part:
“2021 will see changes to the tournament structure, tournament grading system and a new tournament recognition scheme….”
“Among the most important changes to be introduced in 2021 is a new, refined and simplified tournament structure. The previous Grade A to Grade 4 naming will be replaced by numeric figures representing the points available to the winning player or players in each event.”
[These will be the World Championships, ITF Seniors 1000 (maximum of 12 world wide, minimum of one but no more than four in any one region) 700, 400, 200 and 100 tournaments.]
“The ITF Seniors World Championships – Young Seniors, Seniors and Super-Seniors categories – will remain the highlight of the season and the highest grade on the circuit.
The 2021 structure will also introduce a new grade – ITF Seniors 1000, a small number of global tournaments aimed at elite players within each age group. These events will offer a greater value of ranking points, relative to the points available at the World Championships.
In addition, four further grades will exist to provide a more appropriate tournament experience to players of different standards. Clearly defined entry-level tournaments – ITF Seniors 100 – are designed to provide more competitive opportunities and appropriate tournament formats for the huge number of players who already compete, while also attracting new tournaments and players to the circuit.”
“Matt Byford, Manager, ITF Seniors said: “We are very pleased to announce several developments to further enhance the tournament experience for players, officials, tournament organisers and our member nations from 2021 onwards….”
Tournament Structure, Grading Criteria and Rankings
The above linked article contains the information about the 2021 ranking points.
2021 ITF Seniors Circuit Ranking Points
Hi Carolyn,
We met years past at LTC. Your page is an awesome resource and maybe you can help me with this.
I have a fellow 3.5 player in a USTA League team who, as a result of a grievance from another captain, is having his rating adjusted to 5.5 because, in 2019, he earned points from a first round win at a 55+ Grade 4 ITF Seniors Tour tournament in his country of origin. His USTA section doesn’t understand that, in the ITF’s Seniors tour, Grade 4 tournaments (currently known as S100) are aimed to recreational play. They don’t understand either that the mention to the ITF in the USTA General and Experienced Player Guidelines (https://www.usta.com/content/dam/usta/pdfs/10013_experience_player_ntrp_guidelines.pdf) refers to the ITF World Tennis Tour (professional) and insist to rate the player at 5.5 because “He is a 40+ ITF player who earned points in the past 5 years.”
I wonder if you know of any precedence of a situation like this with the USTA and/or if, with your expertise, you can throw some light into this unjust situation this 3.5 player is facing.
Thank you very much!!!
Wow, that’s unfortunate. He needs to appeal. I’m not too familiar with the NTRP procedures, but I think a letter showing the NTRP ratings of players who have played ITF tournaments would help. In the USA most Level 3, all level 2 and 1 are ITF. So if you find a 3.5 who has won a match at any of those levels it would help. And a letter to the national committee might help. What section are you in?
Thank you very much, Carolyn. Yes, he’s appealing and he has records of local 3.5 and 4.0 players who have earned ITF points by virtue of playing in recent USTA age-group national tournaments, held here in Florida (These USTA points populate towards ITF rankings as well.) Do you know how to contact the national committee? (I can’t find clear access through usta.com.). They should be able to clarify that their reference to ITF players in their General and Experienced Players Guidelines pertains to ITF World Tour professional players and not to low-tier Seniors Tour tournaments. I suggest you Google these guidelines as they will illustrate you, a bit more, about the correlation of NTRP ratings with high school, junior, college and professional levels of play. Thank you very much, again.