Junior Tennis

Hi everyone, we are three local kids who are serious about our tennis. We’re in middle and high school and have been playing tennis since we were about 4-5 years old. We’ve competed at the highest level in tournaments across the United States, and especially in our designated section, Northern California (NorCal). When we started out, we knew very little about how junior tournaments worked, so our goal is to provide the community with all the tips and tricks we wish we’d known sooner.

Basics of Junior Tennis Competition

If you are thinking about playing competitive junior tennis, you likely have many questions. How and when do I start playing tournaments? What tournaments should I play? What different types of tournaments are there, and where can I find them? What is a UTR? What is a WTN?

We hope the information below will help answer some of these questions and point you in the right direction.

How and when do I start playing tournaments?

When to begin competing is a very personal decision. Some kids love to compete, no matter what the outcome. Other kids take losses very hard and take a long time to recover emotionally. So, the decision when to start is an individual one, considering your expectations of yourself and the sport, and your reactions to stress and adversity.

If you feel ready to play, you should familiarize yourself with the rules of the United States Tennis Association (USTA) applicable to the section to which you are assigned and obtain a USTA number. Reno, Nevada is in the Northern California section (whereas Southern Nevada is a part of the Intermountain section). The different sections may have different rules, so you should confirm which rules apply and learn them. The “Northern California Junior Competition” page is a great resource. You can find it here.

You should also learn the USTA Northern California Junior Regulations and read “The Code,” a guide for junior tennis matches. A presentation highlighting some of the more notable Code rules can be found here.

What tournaments should I play?

The answer to this question depends on your age and level of play. In the Northern California section, players must be at least 5 years old to play in a USTA event, and after that, they generally follow a progression through a system called Net Generation PlayTracker. Typically, players who are between 5- and 7-years old play in red ball (essentially a low compression soft ball, played on a very small court). Players between 7-9 years of age generally play in orange ball (the court is bigger than red play, but still smaller than regular size, and the balls are harder than red play). Players between 9-11 years of age usually compete in green ball (normal size court, ball is deflated about half-way between yellow ball and orange ball). A player can advance to a higher level by earning a defined number of points and successfully passing an assessment by a USTA-certified coach. Once the player turns 11 years old, they can enroll in whatever tournament they wish. You can learn more about the Net Generation PlayTracker system here.

Once you start playing yellow ball, you will likely start with a Level 7 tournament (more on the levels below) because these tournaments allow player entry “from the bottom up.” In other words, if you are just starting and have no points or ranking, you may not be able to enter tournaments who take players “from the top down” based on rankings. Level 7 events are designed to allow players who are just starting the opportunity to compete and earn points.

What different types of tournaments are there, and where can I find them?

Generally, there are 7 levels of tournaments. The lower the level number, the more competitive the tournament.

Level 1 tournaments are a handful per year and are the most competitive. There are five major Level 1 tournaments: Easter Bowl, National Clay Court Championships, National Championships (hard court), National Indoor Championships, and National Winter Championships.
Level 2 tournaments are still very competitive, and their number is still somewhat limited.
Level 3 tournaments that are open only to residents of the specific section are called “Sectionals.” There are, however, Level 3 tournaments that are open to anyone who signs up.
Level 4 tournaments are sometimes events called “Excellences,” SuperSeries (guaranteeing 3 matches within each flight), or Dominant Duo (team plays two singles and one double).
Level 5 events are typically called “Championships,” though there can also be a SuperSeries or Dominant Duo event held as a Level 5.
Level 6 events are called “Open” tournaments
Level 7 events are called “Challenger” tournaments. They are typically one-day entry level events, and each match is comprised of a single set.

The more competitive the event, the higher the points earned for advancing. You can find the USTA ranking tables (containing the points for every event) here. A player’s National Standing is calculated by using the player’s 6 best tournaments. When entering a tournament, you should pay attention to whether it is “open” or “closed.” While you can sign up for open events anywhere in the United States, you can only enter a closed event if it is located within your specific USTA section. If the draws are full, you are typically guaranteed at least two matches.

The “Find Tournaments Now” button on the USTA Northern California section page will take you to a Google sheet of all USTA Northern California junior tournaments, organized by month and level. For 2025, the tournament sheet is located here. (There is a similar sheet for National tournaments outside of Northern California here.)

What is UTR?

UTR stands for “Universal Tennis Rating,” and is intended to measure a player’s tennis skill level. UTR ratings range from 1.00 to 16.50, and the higher the rating, the better the player’s believed tennis level. (For example, a beginner may have a 1.75 UTR, and Carlos Alcaraz has a 16.32 UTR.) UTR has become very popular with college coaches who use it as a way to compare players all over the world.

UTR is a dynamic algorithm that updates daily. For each match, the algorithm calculates a match rating and a match weight for each player. A player’s UTR Rating is the weighted average of up to 30 of their most recent match ratings. Only matches within the last 12 months count toward a player’s UTR Rating. In very basic terms, the algorithm predicts how many games a player would win in the match, based on the ratings of the player and the opponent. If a player does better than what the algorithm predicted, the player’s UTR generally goes up. If the player does worse than the prediction, the player’s UTR may go down. Other factors come into play that may affect a player’s UTR, such as changes in the ratings of past opponents.

You can find out more about UTR here.

Is There a Way to Compare NTRP and UTR?

While a precise direct comparison is difficult to make, please see the below chart from RacquetRivalry.com:

NTRP	UTR(Female)	UTR(Male)
1.5	–	–
2.0	–	–
2.5 3.0	1.0-3.0 2.0-3.5	– 2.5-4.5
3.5	2.5-4.0	2.5-4.5
4.0	3.5-5.0	4.5-7.0
4.5 5.0	4.5-6.5 6.5-9.0	6.0-8.5 8.0-10.5
5.5	9.5-11.5	9.0-11.5
6.0+	11.5-13.5	12.5-16.5

What is WTN?

In an effort to develop something similar to UTR, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) developed the ITF World Tennis Number (WTN) for singles and doubles. WTN uses a 40-1 scale, in which the lower the number, the better the player (e.g., a WTN 40 is a beginner and 1 is elite professional). Similar to UTR, the WTN algorithm uses the pre-match ratings of both players to predict the outcome of the match, and the WTN changes depending on the match score. As with UTR, more recent results have more weight than older results. The WTN algorithm analyzes matches based on how many sets you won. WTN is updated weekly and is reported to use match results from 2016 onwards to calculate a player’s number.

You can find out more about WTN here.

Other Helpful Information

We have found several tennis-related apps to be very helpful:

Match Tennis – allows you to conduct nationwide searches by various criteria such as dates, state, section, level, age, etc. The app is user-friendly with a relatively simple layout and easy navigation. Once you place a tournament on your calendar within the app, Match Tennis send reminders for upcoming tournament entry deadlines. It can also generate suggestions for tournaments you should play to reach certain desired rankings. Some tournaments use this app for match check-in and court assignments.
UTR Sports – allows you to view your UTR and your opponent’s UTR (though we do not recommend you check your opponent’s UTR before matches), see past match results, and find various UTR tournaments for players of all levels. The UTR Sports app also contains a college match feature (generating possible college choices based on your UTR) and gives you an opportunity to see the UTR ratings of the players on college teams in which you may be interested.
SwingVision – allows you to record any match or practice and analyze your game. By using SwingVision, you can see your shot placement, court position when hitting the ball, the types of shots you hit (slice, spin, and flat), and the types of errors you made. SwingVision recordings are also helpful for college recruitment purposes (if this is your goal).

What If I Want to Play College Tennis?

If you want to play competitive tennis in college, you should learn about the different organizations and divisions of collegiate competition—such as the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), and the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). Some states may have other similar organizations.

Each association has its own rules for eligibility and competition. Knowing the difference between each association can be the key to finding the right college for you.

You can find more information here.

Practical Things We Learned on Our Tennis Journey

Do not kill yourself in practice and at the gym the few days right before the tournament. It is important you are in peak shape (and not sore or tired) when you are expected to play. Many junior tournaments only last 2 days (Saturday and Sunday). Depending on the size of the draw (and assuming you continue to advance), you may play 5 singles matches and 4 doubles matched in one weekend.
It is not advisable to learn new technique the few days before the tournament. You will not have confidence in the shot and are unlikely to successfully execute it. Minor adjustments are fine (e.g., bend your knees, get ready a little faster, etc.).
Do your own research on the tournament location—temperature, humidity, altitude, wind, etc. You’ll need to adjust your racket by changing the string tension and overgrip. For example, when you play at higher altitude, the ball will fly more, so it is a good idea to string a little tighter. If you are going to a humid environment, expect your hands will sweat more, so get a more absorbent grip (or more grips, so you can change them if needed).
If you are playing in a time zone that differs from your home time zone by more than 1 hour, consider going to the tournament a couple of days earlier. It is tough when you have to play at 8am on the East Coast (which is 5am Pacific Standard Time, and which also means you should be eating breakfast around 3am Pacific Standard Time).
If you are driving to a tournament, check the weather conditions and leave sooner if necessary. Always anticipate weather-related delays if you are travelling from Reno to Northern California in the winter. There is also frequent construction on I-80 in the summer.
Always bring extra shoes, racquets, shirts, pants, water, electrolytes, and practice balls. Things happen.
Put snacks and pickle juice in your racquet bags. You never know when you will get hungry (and sometimes you have to wait longer for your match to start). Pickle juice helps with cramps.
Find practice courts. Warm up courts are not always offered at the tournament (unless you are the first match of the day), so you’ll need to find one for yourself. You can find a helpful link here.
Check the draw carefully for your time and location of play. Sometimes schedules change, and multiple venues may be used in the same tournament—even from one match to the next. Do not assume that you will play your second match at the location where you played your first match. Additionally, there may be last minute withdrawals.
When you call the ball out, be sure it’s out. If you call the ball out, but then you correct yourself and try to keep playing, your opponent gets the point.
Always book the last flight back on the last day of the tournament. Junior tennis tournaments are rarely on time, so you will find yourself under a lot of pressure if you are trying to make a 4pm flight on a Sunday.
Parents, we do not want to hear about everything we did wrong or right after the match. Give us some space and let us come to you.