Handicapping 2017 USTA League Nationals 40 & over 3.0 Women

Nationals for the 2017 USTA League 40 & over division gets started this weekend, and so my previews continue.  To start, we'll take a look at the 3.0 women

For all my previews, I'll be using my Estimated Dynamic NTRP Ratings and comparing teams using the top-8 (for 5 court levels) or top-5 (for 3 court levels) averages which gives an idea of who the best teams are, if they play their best players.  Who actually plays and the match-ups a captain is able to get obviously go a long way to determining who will win, but it is still interesting to compare "best" vs "best".  The actual detailed numbers along with full roster averages and by court played averages are available as part of a Flight Report which can still be purchased for any Nationals flight.  Contact me if interested.

The 3.0 women will be played in Ft. Lauderdale, FL on clay.  The full 17 teams are present so there is one flight with five teams and three with four teams, the flight winners advancing to the semis.

The favorites in the three flights are Hawaii, Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and Florida, but several flights are virtual ties in the preview so anything could happen.

Ratings will clearly change as a result of the matches played, but right now, Hawaii appears to be the favorite, but they are making one long trip and the Florida team is almost playing a home match and on clay, so we'll see if that slants things in their favor.

Good luck to all!